To Find a Reason
by Izzey24
Summary: What starts as stupid experimenting between two teenage boys, quickly turns into something more for Hitoshura and Isamu. What will come between them and how will the Conception affect that? An Isamu/Demi-Fiend  Hitoshura  story. Please R&R. :
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. Hello all. :3 Cause I do not already have enough fanfics going on, I thought I'd post this one that I'm currently working on. A lot of the updates for this will probably take place on my DeviantART, but I'll slowly post this here if I get the chance as well. Make sure to at least read about the inspiration for it by going here. htt p:/izzey24. deviantart .com/ gallery /#/d4stx8s (please take out all the really random spaces, sorry. XD) **

"Ugh," Isamu scoffed, long fingers picking at his sticky tee shirt. "I feel so gross now." He wined at the feel of his sweat soaked clothing clinging to his lean body. "How are you able to bare this heat, Hito?"

Blink at his shorter friend, Hitoshura shrugged his shoulders, just passing by the other almost like he didn't care. Which he sort of didn't; Isamu was just blathering again and right now his top priority was to get changed. The heat had gotten to him too of course.

Well being ignored like that just upset Isamu of course. Frowning deftly and giving a huff to show his annoyance, he put his hands on his hips. "I think I know why. Do you know why you're so accustomed to this insane heat?"

Hitoshura was use to the other's odd, over dramatic antics like this, but that still didn't mean he understood where this line of questioning was leading. "No, why?" he finally asked in that low, soft tone.

That voice would often send shivers down Isamu's spine. Pleasant tingly sensations he normally only felt when he got near a girl he liked. In order to hide his reaction he scoffed again in his own very Isamu-esque way. "It's obviously because you spend waaaay too much time simply practicing soccer. That is _all _you ever do, Hito-kun!" To punctuate his point, he threw the soccer ball he'd been forced to carry at the other. Hitoshura caught it effortlessly to the other's disappointment. "You should focus on other things too sometimes, you know."

Raising an eyebrow, Hitoshura shrugged and seated himself on one of the locker room benches. Alright, he would at least hear the other out this time. "Focus on what exactly?"

"I don't know," Isamu threw his hands up, before he walked over to join his friend on the bench. He thought, making this humming noise while doing so, and rolling the soccer ball back and forth between them. He made a valid point; Hito did need a life… but he had no idea what sort of outlet besides soccer that the other should adopt. When ever they hung out they normally had Chiaki nag them about anything serious, other wise the two boys often ended up just playing video games. It was kind of weird for just the two of them to talk about anything legitimately important. Serious conversation just wasn't a skill Isamu really had. The filter between his brain and mouth often seemed nonexistent, so he just kind of spat out whatever he felt like saying, with out bothering to think up any follow through…

After a moment of deep contemplation, an evil smile crossed his face. "You," Isamu poked at Hitoshura's chest to be even more bothersome. "Should focus more on girls like a normal teenage boy would do!" He smiled cockily like a proud cat.

Hitoshura awkwardly scratched at the spot the other had poked him. His Jersey clung to him- they both really needed to shower after such an intense practice. "Shut up…" It seemed like all Isamu ever talked about was girls- Ms. Takao especially. He could see where this conversation was going to end up, and, quite frankly, he didn't like it one bit. "I have a date tomorrow…" He lied hoping that would appease the other.

Wrong.

"Whhhhaaaat!" Isamu's voice rose much too high and Hitoshura was forced to hold back a bemused smile. "Oooh my gaawd! No way! When! Who! Why have you not told me yet?" The other chuckled and Isamu punched his arm. "Seriously? You suck! Spill, how in the world did _you _get a date!"

Hitoshura smirked, "You sound like a girl right now Isamu."

Using every shred of will power, the shorter boy ignored that. "Tell. Me!"

Hitoshura had to think quickly here. Shrugging a little, he played it off coolly. "Oh… It's just this third year from class two. She asked me. We're gonna, uh, go shopping and stuff."

Isamu leaned back dumbstruck, eyes still bugging out at the other. He got a date? But he was so aloof and quiet… Granted that was part of his charm bu- Wait… 'Part of his charm?' Since when did Isamu notice any part of Hitoshura's charm? Hito was a guy…

He mentally shook himself from that train of thought with a frown and turned back to face the other. "Come on though really- when was the last time you were out on a date?" Silence. "You know a third year girl is going to have experience, and will probably want to kiss and stuff right? Do you even know how to kiss a girl?"

Actually… no. Hitoshura had never kissed a girl before. He flushed a little and fumbled for his reply. "Like you're any sort of expert."

Isamu wasn't going to back down from an insult like that, even though he himself had only made out with a girl once; and she'd lead him through most of it. He pursed his lips, "Of course I am! I've kissed plenty of girls. _I_ know all about kissing!"

Without thinking Hito countered. "Prove it."

That sent Isamu's arrogant mind racing. How could he prove… Oh! "Fine! I will!" He practically shouted, standing suddenly. "See this is what I meant. What good is all that soccer training, when instead you honestly need to worry about your date with that girl tomorrow!"

What happened next was like what should have been a carefully orchestrated dance gone haywire. "…Here," Isamu sat awkwardly on Hito's lap. "I'll practice with you," He almost fell backwards due to his lack of balance, but the other was quick to catch him. "B-be happy you have-" Hitoshura twisted them around. "-such a good friend-" Isamu ended up leaning against the wall, the other cross legged on the bench under him. "-like me, who's helping you out with these… things…" He trailed off a bit unsettled suddenly.

Isamu talked big, but now as he sat so close to Hitoshura- or rather, on him- and stared right at those piercing gray eyes… His heart raced suddenly, face getting hot. It was even more embarrassing since Hito's hand was right on his chest. He could almost assuredly feel Isamu's pounding heart!

"Uh…" Isamu breathed as though remembering he was suppose to be teaching the other. He placed a hand on Hito's, ready to push it back, but he froze when this action made the taller boy lean closer. They were so close. Isamu's could feel his friend's breath tickling his cheek. Suddenly it was really hard to swallow… or… move… or, you know, breath even.

Time slowed and all the boys could sense was each other. The sight of one another's flushed face. The steady beating tempo of their hearts creating the loudest cadence ever. The feel of their bodies pressed together. The smell of one another, which should have been unpleasant after practice, but was actually quite the opposite. There was only one thing missing.

The taste of the other boy on their tongue.

Isamu moved first- he _was _supposed to be teaching after all. He tightened his grip on Hitoshura's hand and tilted his face up. Hitoshura inhaled sharply at the sight of those thin, pretty, pink lips offered to him. That was the final push he needed. His free hand cupped Isamu's chin pulling him into a forceful, demanding kiss.

Isamu squeaked at the harsh and sudden pressure, before relishing in the pleasant feel it gave him. Way different than kissing a girl. Way better. He pushed back on Hitoshura's plump lips, demanding the other to keep going.

Hitoshura groaned. His tongue pushed out to tease at the other's mouth. Hand sliding down to touch Isamu's neck, he earned a gasp and in turn, the entrance into Isamu's unexplored mouth that he'd desired so badly. Hito had the sudden urge to map out the entirety of the warm cavern in one deft sweep. He felt even more encouraged to do so when Isamu's free arm wrapped around his neck and there was a tongue battling him for dominance over the kiss.

They pushed against each other like that for a while, than Isamu finally let the other take control of the kiss. The hand he'd once meant to push away was now intertwined perfectly with his, and distracting from the devious intents of Hitoshura's other hand which was creeping under his shirt to tease at his lean torso. They broke apart for air finally, gasping, eyes opening and meeting almost in time with each other. Hito's lidded again quickly and he moved to kiss at Isamu's unguarded, beautiful neck.

"Ahn, Hitooo~" Isamu moaned tossing his head back. Both their brains had long since stopped trying to process any of this and Isamu was pretty sure he'd lost the ability to breath under controlled circumstances. Hitoshura's teeth grazed his pulse point and he wined back arching. "Hito!"

Growling, Hitoshura answered the call by nibbling harder. This "lesson" was quickly turning into something it probably shouldn't have been turning into, and he knew it needed to stop… but there was no way he could push Isamu away now. "Isamu," he growled hoarsely, grinding his hips up into the boy, like the horney teenager he was.

Isamu could only flush at the feel and came to the realization that his body had reacted the same way without him even noticing 'til now. "H-hey Hito l-let's ke-"

BANG

The locker room door clattered open and the sound of laugher suddenly reverberated through the quiet room like defining thunder. Isamu jumped, and Hitoshura very nearly feel backwards off the bench. They scrambled away from each other just as three other guys from their soccer practice rounded the corner.

"Oh man!" One cackled. "Hitoshura, you're never gonna believe what Yue here just did."

"Ah shut up man! Don't tell him too!" The second, Yue, said. He frowned even more once he saw Hitoshura. "Hey, you alright dude? Your face is all red."

Hitoshura pulled at his collar nervously, face getting even redder if that was possible. He nodded, movements feeling super sluggish suddenly. His eyes wondered to where Isamu was bending to retrieve their long forgotten soccer ball. The boy grabbed it and scurried off, over looked by the new three who could have cared less about the typically over dramatic boy that they always paid no mind to.

As the other's began to tell their pointless story to Hitoshura, he listened only to the sound of Isamu's steps as he left. The loud opening creak of the door and the even louder, hollow sound of the door slamming shut. He sucked in a sharp breath and try to use his hand to steady his heart.

Outside, Isamu dropped the soccer ball and covered his mouth. He could still feel Hito on his lips (that jerk! Making him feel all weird suddenly!) His other hand covered his pounding heart.

_What the hell… what is the feeling? _They both thought silently to themselves.


	2. Chapter 2

"What is with you two?" Chiaki asked leaning on Hitoshura's desk.

Isamu glared over at her, frown half covered by the palm of his hand. "Nothing is wrong! Why would anything be wrong!"

The other two raised eyebrows at him and Chiaki snorted. "Um, I never said anything was wrong. Again, you never listen to anybody, Isamu."

Students laughed and filtered out around the three friends, heading off to enjoy their four day holiday. Hitoshura, Isamu and Chiaki were suppose to kick off their break by getting together to watch a movie like they would do once or twice a month. However, Chiaki was getting sick of the sudden hostile attitude the boys had developed towards one another.

Knowing Isamu would continue to be no help, as his head was filled with air, she turned her attention to the other. "For like the past two days you and Isamu have barely spoken to each other. What's up Hitoshura?"

What was up? Well three days ago Isamu and Hitoshura had just made out with each other in the locker room. Awkward? Why of course not! Why in the world would it have been awkward for two best guy friends to do something like that and then pretend like nothing happened?

Okay, yeah, it was the most awkward thing either of them had even been through.

Saturday night after the 'incident' (as Hitoshura had started calling it) both boys returned to their homes all a flutter. Each locked himself inside his room in order to just… think. Neither really knew how to react. They had both defiantly felt something… but what the hell was this? How could they just go on being friends now? Would they be able to pretend it never happened? Did they want that…?

Hitoshura really wanted to at least call and make sure Isamu was okay; after all he'd just ran out without saying a word to the other. Every time Hitoshura's shaking hand would pick up his phone he couldn't bring himself to hit Isamu's speed dial. He would need to hit two buttons was all… and like a coward he just could not do it.

The following day was Hitoshura's "date," and Isamu was tempted to call and wish him good luck. After all, the thing yesterday was just to help Hitoshura practice for today, right? So he should call and be supportive, right? Cause they were still just friends, right? ….right? Right!

Damn it, that was the worst part; there was nobody Isamu could talk to about this stuff. Hitoshura, well, God no! And Chiaki would scolded them both for doing something so frivolous and stupid. No, no, he defiantly didn't want to say anything to her. Finally, after lots of deliberation Isamu forced himself to at least text his friend. _"Hey don't blow it on your date today! ; )"_There… Now Hitoshura would at least know that Isamu didn't harbor any weird feelings from yesterday. Because he totally didn't… right? Right!

When that text came through on Hitoshura's end, he had no idea how to reply. First he had to decode the date part (oh, yeah that had been the start of the whole 'incident') but then… what? There was no actual date, so what was he suppose to reply back with? Should he tell Isamu? Maybe ask him if he was feeling anything from yesterday still? Ask to go out on a date with Isamu today instead?

Okay yeah, that last one was bad and made Hitoshura freak out a little. He'd never realized he looked at Isamu that way! The reply message never got sent out because he really couldn't come up with anything that didn't sound completely stupid...

By the time Monday rolled around and the boys found themselves back at school,none of their questions had been magically answered. They were going to have to try and figure this out on their own then.

Hitoshura arrived to the classroom after Isamu, and when he slid the door open the other jumped and turned toward the sound. He blanched, eyes widening. Every time the door had opened since he arrived, he would jump like that, but now that it was actually Hitoshura he still had no plan as to how to react to seeing him. They stared at each other, the older of the two glued to his spot in front of the doorway. Finally, Isamu closed his gaping mouth and huffed, turning away as though mad.

Hitoshura's heart jumped; oh no, Isamu really was upset by what had happened wasn't he! Of course he would be. It was Hitoshura's fault that the kiss had gone so far… Crap… Swallowing his shame and anger towards himself, the dark haired boy walked silently passed Isamu's desk, not saying anything even as he took his seat. His seat which was of course right next to Isamu… Cause the universe obviously hated him…

They didn't say anything directly to one another throughout the day, only talking to each other via simple prompts given by Chiaki. The one time they spoke to each other with out her influence was when Isamu asked Hitoshura if he knew anything about Ms. Takao still being sick. Despite this being the one chance he had to talk to the other boy, even about something unrelated, Hitoshura could only shrug. Coward…

So that was that. It went basically the same on Tuesday, bringing them all to the wonderful awkward fact that today was the day they were suppose to hang out with Chiaki. Nope. Nothing about this could possibly be weird…

Hitoshura finally just shrugged at the girl. "Isamu's right, there's nothing wrong." Lie.

She groaned in frustration. "You guys are such liars…" Yep, they really were. "Fine, fine if you don't want to tell me, be that way, but I am not putting up with this while we watch movies tonight. You two had better cheer up, cause it's my turn to pick the movie, and I won't have you ruin it by bringing in your weird… whatever kind of tension you two have picked up."

Sexual. It was totally sexual tension. Hitoshura blushed a little, putting a hand over face. He was doing it again. That… Thinking thing where he kept imagining… Things that he shouldn't be. He had to make himself stop that.

Isamu groaned in frustration. "Oh no… It's your turn to pick the movie, I forgot… You aren't gonna make us watch another one of those crappy love dramas are you?" Hitoshura was glad for the sudden subject change and made himself focus on that- not the pervy thoughts.

Chiaki puffed her cheek out. "I do not always just pick romantic dramas, and they are not 'crappy' when I do."

"Oh, sorry," Isamu gasped in pretend alarm. "I forgot you sometimes pick snooze worth historical dramas as well."

Chiaki slammed her hands on Hitoshura's desk, making him jump even though he wasn't the aim of her wrath. "At least the movies I pick are intelligent, rather than the pointless action movies you always pick,"

Flipping his raven hair off his face, Isamu gave one of his trade mark scoffing noises. "Those are way better than the movies you pick. Am I right Hitoshura?"

As much as Hitoshura wanted to keep up this weird game of ignoring Isamu, since it refrained from anything really awkward coming up between them, he had to agree with him. "We're guys. Your movies aren't always that interesting for us." Not that all the movies she would pick were bad, but when the three of them got together for this, it always seemed to be better when either Hitoshura or Isamu picked. Two against one gender wise after all… And Isamu was lying anyways- some of the romance ones could be kind of sweet… sometimes.

Putting her hands on her hips, Chiaki leaned back up defiantly. "Fine, but we're still watching the movie I picked! If you don't like it well too bad."

Hitoshura sunk down in his chair so that Isamu and Chiaki could continue to throw insults back and forth at each other. Ah, the beauty of friendship. Two friends insulting each other, another two not speaking to each other after they kissed, and now all three were gonna go watch a movie like everything was fine. Yep nothing could go wrong here.

* * *

><p>"Hey are your parents home Hito?"<p>

Hitoshura looked up at Isamu, watching him place one foot carefully in front of the other spreading his arms wide as he balanced on a short brick wall that ran the length of the sidewalk. Strong he was not, but Isamu had always had good balance, dexterity, and flexibility. Chiaki often joked that he should have done some kind of gymnastics.

"No," he finally answered, never taking his eyes off the other's lean torso that moved so smoothly.

Isamu nodded and jumped down off the edge of the wall that was tapering off to the end anyways. "Good, then we won't have to worry about being quiet," he hummed.

Covering his face with his hand, Hitoshura desperately tried to stop blushing and thinking terrible things. Oh lord, 'wouldn't have to worry about being quiet?' Isamu was just trying to make him remember the other day wasn't he? After all, the boy hadn't been real quiet when they had been together… He shook his head just as their little group walked up in front of his house. Leave it to one kiss from Isamu to make him start thinking things and distract him all the time…

Hitoshura unlocked the front door for them, and after they all removed their shoes, led them upstairs to his room; their normal spot for hanging out.

"Oh by the way Chiaki," Isamu said, plopping himself right on Hitoshura's bed as though he belonged there. "I found out Ms. Takao is at Shinjuku Medical Center. She's still sick, but she said we could come visit her if we want to over break."

Hitoshura hopped on his bed, walking awkwardly around Isamu to sit himself by the headboard. Meanwhile, Chiaki was popping the DVD she'd brought into the player. "Mm, well I can't tomorrow, but yeah I wouldn't mind going on Thursday. I have some stuff I could ask her about." She sat back on the floor. "What is wrong with her anyways? What is she in the hospital for?"

Isamu shrugged. "I'unno she wouldn't say. But cool we can go Thursday then." He lolled his head back to glance at Hitoshura. "You wanna go too?"

Whoa… his neck was so white and smooth… What would it look like if Hitoshura covered it with hi-

"Hito?"

"Yeah, sure!" He blurted through a voice crack, pulling his eyes away from Isamu. Suddenly the TV was really interesting… Lucky for him, the other boy only raised a questioning eyebrow his way, but otherwise ignored the sudden outburst.

In order to work the buttons, Chiaki remained seated on the floor, leaning against the bed comfortably, while the boys made themselves comfy on the bed itself. Of course, for Isamu that meant laying out and taking up most of the space on the bed. Hitoshura noted that his head was creeping dangerously close to his leg…

Turns out that the boys had been right; it was indeed another boring romance movie, and they were indeed bored out of their minds. Chiaki, on the other hand, was enthralled since it was one of her favorites. To entertain himself in some way, Isamu kept trying to crack jokes at the really lame cheesy parts to get the others to laugh. Sometimes it worked, other times it only made the girl yell at him to shut up.

"Hush!" She hissed one time, "This part is my favorite and so help me I will hurt you if you make fun of it!"

Hitoshura blinked in surprise. Chiaki wasn't normally quite that mean to Isamu for one thing. Also, the other boy was suddenly hugging him around the waist and pretending to cry. "Hitoooo~ She's being mean again- make her stop!" Isamu even put a sob into his act.

Chiaki rolled her eyes and ignored the pair. Which was good, because it gave Hitoshura the chance to pat the raven haired boy's head. "There, there." He offered him, while secretly relishing in the contact as brief as it was…

…or, rather, as brief as he had assumed it would be.

However, Isamu grip on his waist didn't loosen anytime soon. Hitoshura could only sit there, lightly stroking the soft, black hair. Isamu's head turned to the side and he even snuggled closer a few times. Hitoshura was pretty sure that after a while he was feigning sleep to try and fool him and Chiaki.

After the silent treatment he'd been getting from Isamu, this was a little too drastic a change. Heart racing, he tried really, really hard not to remember that day. Hitoshura had to forget the amazingly soft feel of Isamu's lips. Forget the way he'd held onto him so tightly. God why was that so hard to do?

Time did that weird freezey thing it seemed to do lately when the two boys were together. The minuets passed on tormentingly slow, why, even the movie seemed to be dragging on in slow motion now (and it hadn't been that interesting before mind you.) Hitoshura could only hear Isamu's slowed, lax breathing. Breathing that sounded like he really was asleep, yet Hitoshura could see out of the corner of his eyes the way the he would peek up at him, only to snap his eyes shut again real quickly.

Geez, just was this fool playing at now…?

At the risk of making matters worse (or maybe better depending on how you were looking at this situation by now) Chiaki's phone rang out softly. "Oh no," She mumbled looking at the screen. "I'll be right back, Hitoshura." The girl politely went out in the hall to take the call; Isamu had fooled her it seemed.

Hitoshura leaned forward a bit. "Hey," he tapped Isamu's forehead, grunting unconsciously as he spoke. "What are you doing?"

There was a pause. Finally, Isamu cracked an eye open. "I'm sleeping, what's it look like."

Hitoshura honestly could only raise an eyebrow. He never had been much for talking though on the other hand, so this was nothing new.

"I'm using you as a pillow obviously," Isamu sighed hugging the other tighter and snuggling closer. "You're nice and warm… plus you still owe me from the other day."

'Owe me?' What the hell did… Did Isamu mean from the 'lesson?' But… Well that pissed Hitoshura off… There was nothing really taught anyways! Both of them had freaked out, and in no way did he owe Isamu anything. Especially not after he'd been ignored for three days. Leave it to this idiot to not realize just how much Hitoshura was still flustered by the kiss, and think that this sort of thing was okay as it had before. Yes, Hitoshura had been used by both Chiaki and Isamu as a 'pillow' before, but now it was a little different to have the younger boy doing it…

For now, Hitoshura just bit his tongue. Chiaki would be back at any moment and he didn't wanna start something with the other. Sure enough, the girl returned as if on cue. She flipped her hair back with a sigh. "Sorry Hitoshura, but my parents apparently need me home for something." She frowned. "Want me to wake him and drag him out behind me?"

Holding back a truly devious smile, Hitoshura shook his head. "Nah, I'll kick him out later."

With another sigh, Chiaki nodded, "Well if you're sure." She quickly rounded up the stuff she'd brought with her after school, and bid Hitoshura one final goodbye and apology.

The boy waited silently, listening to her foot steps on the stairs, until they faded and the sound of the door replaced it. "Isamu get up."

Isamu made a pouty sound, and gave a final squeeze to his 'pillow.' "Fine…" A quick cat like stretch before he settled himself cross legged next to Hitoshura. "Guess I should get going too th-"

"Isamu what is this?"

No one would ever question the statement that Hitoshura was a bit odd or even mysterious. Isamu was no acceptation even though he was friends with the boy. Like right now he could only blink at the other in confusion. "What's what now?"

Hitoshura's eyes narrowed. "Don't play dumb," balancing by placing a hand next to Isamu, he leaned in closer to the younger. "Enough ignoring me we have to talk about what happened."

Whoa. To close… Isamu's face burned just like the other day. This was bad. His head was spinning and Hitoshura hadn't even done anything. "Th-that was just…. I mean you know I was simply showing you how to…" he flipped his hand, suddenly embarrassed to say what it was they had done.

"Bull shit." He leaned closer. "You know damn well we both felt something. Are you really just gonna ignore that?"

'Yes,' Isamu's terrified brain wanted to blurt. He was scared. If things kept going… what would happen to their friendship? He couldn't risk losing Hitoshura. But… how long could he keep pretending these feeling didn't exist? "I… don't know. This is all your fault you idiot," he murmured, averting his eyes. No way he could look at those sharp gray eyes. Not when they seemed to be staring right through him like that.

Gritting his teeth, Hitoshura put his hand over Isamu's and squeezed softly. "How is it my fault? Just talk to me… you're normally an expert at that."

The other answered back with an annoyed frown. "Haha…" he closed his eyes. "This was just… I didn't think there'd be any… I don't get these feelings, and they are all your fault you jerk! Why did you have to be so damn good at kissing!"

Blush forming on Isamu's cheeks, the other's eyes widened. Crap, he hadn't meant to upset him. Hitoshura never could read him right. Although… Damn, if he didn't look beautiful with that blush on his cheeks.

Isamu finally gave Hitoshura a sheepish look, under those perfectly long eyelashes. Blue, puppy dog eyes is what the taller thought his eyes really looked like. "This kinda thing isn't normal for guy friends to do… It's… wrong for two guys to do this."

It sounded like a question to Hitoshura's ears, but really was probably a statement. Either way, he really didn't care. He cupped the other's cheek softly. "When have we ever been normal or cared about being right?"

Their hearts fluttered and they lost just who it was that leaned forward first, but they soon had lips on lips again. And God if it didn't feel amazing… Each boy was careful to make sure his lips moved softly against the other's. This time didn't feel as rushed. It was lazy, slow kissing as though they were attempting to reassure themselves this was, in fact, okay.

Hitoshura slid his hand around Isamu's waist, while the other wrapped both arms snug over the taller's neck. Isamu's tongue begged to taste the other, and he was quickly allowed in. Before long… they both found their school jackets tossed to the floor.

Neither really took the time to think, 'oh shit! Just how far are we about to take this!' Instead, Isamu was soon straddling Hitoshura's waist, the older was laid back on the bed, and their lips were still glued together. Hitoshura's hands felt all along the lean back at his disposal, happily teasing it both above the shirt and below it.

Isamu pulled his lips off, moving so that he could try to explore the other's neck this time around. He experimented with a few kisses, before testing little nibbles, and then finally a few sharp bites. The sounds Hitoshura made for each were all different, but none unwanted. Actually Isamu wouldn't mind hearing a variety of other groans and grunts from him. His brain wandered to a few scenarios of how to draw those sounds out of Hitoshura… those thoughts made his whole body pulse with pleasurable yet tortured arousal. "Hitoshura…"

Hitoshura turned his head to nip Isamu's ear. As the other squealed, he moved, panting heavily into his ear. "Hito," One hand slithered down over that lovely little butt he'd admittedly noticed a few times even before the incident. It really was a wonder he hadn't figured out sooner that his intents towards Isamu could turn less than pure. "I like it when you call me Hito." His hand squeezed Isamu to punctuate the correction.

"H-Hito!" Isamu gasped, taking the hint with the nickname. He pulled back, so that his fingers could work on the buttons of Hitoshura's shirt. Why the hell did he insist on always wearing a shirt with so damn many buttons! That evil hand on his rear also wouldn't stop exploring or groping, and it was making Isamu wiggle and make these really weird sounds.

Finally he slipped the last button out and was able to slide the fabric off his friend's chest. …God… Isamu bit his lip, running a timid hand across the muscular chest. "Geez," he breathed. "You really do only ever do sports don't you…?"

Hitoshura ignore the reference to their conversation from a few days back, and kept up his incessant tugging at Isamu's tee shirt. "Hey, take this off," he demanded a bit rudely.

Shaking himself away from the intoxicating image of Hitoshura's chest, Isamu sat back and started to pull his shirt off like commanded…

Then his phone rang.

Isamu's eyes widened and he stopped, giving Hitoshura a good view of his stomach but that was all. The other boy leaned up on his elbows, giving the other a look that said, 'don't you even think about answering that…' Obviously, Isamu was tempted to let it go to voicemail- he was extremely turned on by everything happening and really did not feel like stopping the fun- but… if it was his dad… "L-let me just see who it is," Isamu stuttered out, dropping his shirt to the other's disappointment. Hitoshura flopped back down and groaned in annoyance. This was twice now that they had been interrupted during their… fun.

"S-sorry it's my dad. I have to…" Hitting the button on his phone, Isamu began to stand as he took the call. Hitoshura could only give another disappointed groan. At least this time he would be able to get something out of Isamu before he left though. There was no way he was getting away with just walking out again- nothing said. Hitoshura leaned up on his elbows, watching Isamu timidly talk with his father on the phone. He noted the flush still present on his cheeks and the defiant bulge displayed in his pants. Well… not that he was one to talk. Currently his uniform slacks felt like a vice against his arousal.

Isamu played with a few strands of hair. "O-okay, sorry- Dad I- Y-yeah, sorry… alright…" Hitoshura frowned, one hand balling into a fist. Isamu was terrified of his dad. That man would always yell at his son and from what Hitoshura heard, treated him like shit. He worried that Isamu's father might end up doing something worse to him if he couldn't speak up for himself soon. Hitoshura obviously hoped it didn't come to that point, but if he ever found out his friend was being abused in any way, there would be hell to pay, that was for damn sure.

With a frustrated (in more ways than one) sigh, Isamu shut his phone. "I have to go… I'm sorry… I mean, erm… I don't mean to leave you hanging." His face turned red as he flipped his hand about.

Hitoshura smirked. "Quite the opposite of hanging right now."

"Oh my god!" Isamu groaned and covered his embarrassed face. "You're terrible…"

Laughing, Hitoshura sat up all the way. "So…"

"So… Now what?" Isamu sighed picking up his school jacket.

"I'm asking you."

As he slid his jacket on, Hitoshura was afraid the other was just going to bolt again. He prepared himself to get up and chance after him, just in case he really did. "Look," Isamu mumbled, throwing his backpack on as well. "I really don't know right now… I have to go but… um tomorrow I need to go to Shibuya and get a book. Meet me there and buy me lunch if you want an answer." He stuck he tongue out a bit, before he turned to leave.

"Hey, what time!" Hitoshura asked jumping up. He really wanted to push the issue right now. Demand an answer from Isamu, but he saw a genuine truth in those words. Just like him, Isamu really wasn't one-hundred percent sure what he wanted this to be. That was a good idea to wait… they both needed to take a little bit to really think about it without letting their hormones get the best of them again.

"Oh, uh," Isamu stopped to do math in his head. Math was hard. "I don't know, like, around one? I'll call you tomorrow if it changes. You can just meet me at the station."

Hitoshura crocked a finger at Isamu as he tried to leave again. "Oi," He walked right up to him and kissed him quickly. "There."

Isamu blushed again and wiped his mouth, acting like he was mad. Although he'd actually liked Hitoshura doing that... It was sweet, and surprisingly cute from the other. "G-geez, stupid, don't do stuff like that. I'm not a girl…" He rolled his eyes, opening the door. "S-see you later then, Hito."

"Yeah..."


	3. Chapter 3

It was ten o'clock before Hitoshura woke up the next day. He rolled himself awkwardly out of bed after a rough night's sleep (kept… having dreams of Isamu to be honest…) With a yawn he made his way to the shower. The warm water was nice on his tired muscles and he actually seemed to wake up a lot more at the pleasant feel. He pulled himself out finally when the water cooled, and started to dry off. No one else was home by this point in the late morning, so he was free to return to his room in the nude, as though he had not a care in the world. Since he had time, he wanted to leisurely get dressed rather then worry and rush.

At the risk of sounding vain, Hitoshura gave himself a good once over in the mirror after dawning at least his underwear. His legs and arms were slightly tanned from all his soccer practice, and, as Isamu had happy pointed out, he certainly wasn't missing any kind of muscle. But that was all old news, what had caught his eye this time… Was two red, purplish bruises. One on his upper neck- right below his jaw line- and another right on his collarbone.

"Holy…shit, Isamu…" Hitoshura breathed touching the one on his collarbone. He flushed a little. He had no idea the other had bit him quite that hard yesterday.

Hitoshura finally cleared his throat and focused on getting dressed the rest of the way. Today he decided to go for a pair of black jeans, a black tee-shirt, and then his classic black and green hoody. It was still March so he shouldn't have to worry about overheating, but also wouldn't freeze if the temperature wanted to suddenly drop.

Punctuality had always been one of Hitoshura's strong suits, so he quickly ate breakfast… only to find himself ready to go by eleven thirty. There was no way Isamu would be there already… he'd be lucky if Isamu was actually there at one. So Hitoshura simply plopped himself down and played some video games for about an hour. Then he finally headed off to the train station, and caught the train over to Shibuya to arrive right at one o'clock on the dot.

Yep, he was awesome.

Surprisingly enough though, Isamu was only about five minutes late. As soon as he walked into the station Hitoshura's eyes were drawn to him. He wore his trademark blue hat today, ripped jeans, and a too big white sweater that hung slightly off one of his shoulders.

Geez, he was adorable!

Hitoshura waved to get his attention, and the other smiled when he spotted him. Isamu jogged up to him. "Hey you made it." He adorably pushed some hair behind one ear.

Seriously… Hitoshura wasn't going to be able to handle this much adorable. He'd always thought that Isamu had some definite effeminate qualities, but never before had he looked at them as something that was super cute before- which they totally were. It was official; he'd fallen hard. There were definite feelings there.

"Wouldn't miss it."

Isamu had to blush a little realizing what Hitoshura meant. He was suppose to be giving him an answer… He hadn't forgotten or anything, it was just… he was still afraid to give him the answer. There was no doubt as to what he wanted, but how would Hitoshura react to that?

"So," Isamu played with his shirt this time for a nervous twitch. "I just need to go to the book store and grab that book for my stupid lit report… Then…."

Hitoshura saved him from having to say it. "We can go to lunch then. I'll buy of course."

Inside, Isamu was freaking out at that, but he tried to play it cool. "Awesome, I'll take a free meal any time." He turned, pulling on Hitoshura's sweatshirt along the way. "Come on then!"

Rolling his eyes subtly, Hitoshura still followed after the other without hesitation. They went together to a small local bookstore. It was a quaint little shop, locally owned so the help was known for being friendly and kind. Isamu rudely ignored the help when they went in though, not really wanting to bother socializing, and just opted to search for the book on his own. At least Hitoshura offered the clerk a nice. "No thank you," in reply to his offer of help. He was quickly drug by the other to the back, where Isamu fetched the desired book. It was like he wanted to get the hell out of there… which worried Hitoshura because of the conversation that would follow this stop.

If Isamu was in a hurry to get to the lunch and finish the conversation… did that mean bad news? Hitoshura did his best to stay calm, but he was worrying more now than before.

Together the boys traveled back outside, purchase in Isamu's hand. Hitoshura looked up with a frown as they headed toward a little café that was down the street. It had gotten darker… The sky was filling with angry grey clouds, but they looked a little odd… There was a green tint to them, had been there the past couple days really- it was weird... Unsettling for some reason…

The fates also seemed against Hitoshura right then, and a little rain drop plunked down right in the middle of his forehead. Impeccable aim those fates had…

"Uck, damn it!" Isamu noted a few rain drops as well, and hugged his new book to his chest to shield it from the spring drizzle.

Of course since the universe had indeed been picking on both boys here lately, the spring drizzle quickly turned into a pelting downpour that nearly drenched the boys senseless had they not been right next to their chosen café.

Isamu took off his hat and shook it around a bit once inside the sweet smelling shop. "God! Well that was just plain unnecessary!"

Hitoshura didn't even want to bother with sitting there and trying not to freeze to death, so he just slipped off his hoody to save himself that headache. Isamu glance over and allowed himself a generous eyeful of the way Hitoshura's black shirt clung tightly to his muscles. Damn hormones anyways…

A cute looking waitress that couldn't be much older than either of them came over. "Hey there, just the two of you?" They nodded. "Great, follow me then!"

Isamu took this moment as a test. He watched the bouncy curvaceous girl lead them to their table. Long slender legs that came together to make a nice butt beneath her tight skirt. Decent sized chest with nice cleavage to admire once they were sitting and she was leaning to hand them menus. There was certainly a cute quality to her, yet… he shifted his gaze back to Hitoshura.

He certainly had something about him too. That strong jaw line, cool sharp eyes… and geez those muscles... Isamu just wanted to run his fingers over them once more.

But there was the rub… How could Isamu openly admit to being attracted to both the waitress… and more importantly Hitoshura of all people? More than anything else, that was his big moral dilemma. Because what if this was just a fluke? Did he want to come to the conclusion that he was bisexual? Or was this a one time deal thing? After all-

"Isamu?"

The raven haired boy blinked in a daze. "Wha?"

"What would you like to drink?" The waitress asked, with a smile. Meanwhile, Hitoshura frowned at her unnecessarily.

Isamu began to put on his charming side. He smiled his best flirty smile. "I'll just take a lemonade. Sweet- like you."

Good lord… Hitoshura rubbed his eyes. Only Isamu would use such a cheesy line, and on today of all days… He seemed to fool the waitress with such a stupid line though. She giggled and winked at the two boys. "Comin' right up!"

Isamu wiggled his fingers at her smiling. He turned that stupid smile to the frowning Hitoshura. "So since you're buying I can get something expensive right?"

"I don't know," Hitoshura had never thought himself to be the jealous type, but then again it was possible the harsh jealously burning in his throat was another thing caused by the tension between him and Isamu. Right now, all Hitoshura really cared about was getting an answer from Isamu, but at the same time he was still scared shitless. Either way he was going to stare out the window pouting like a jealous girlfriend at the way Isamu had openly flirted with someone right in front of him. Geez, he was being such a girl right now…

Oblivious as always though, Isamu just pouted adorably himself. "Aw, come ooooon. I know you wanna spoil me~" There was no response this time and Isamu started pouting for real. He was quickly distracted however. "Hey Hito…" he pointed to the other's neck, just below his jaw. "What'd you do there?"

Hitoshura took a moment to register that, but he blushed a little when realization struck. He slapped a hand over the mark. "It…. It's your fault," he mumbled to fill the lull of silence.

Now Isamu flushed. "Wh- you mean- I!" Silence. "Zoh my god…" He looked down guilty. He had actually left a hickey on Hitoshura! Whoa…

Hitoshura paused again. "You know… You left one here too," he tugged his shirt down just enough to show off the mark on his chest, and allowed himself to relish in the embarrassment on Isamu's face.

"No way!" There was indeed a good sized redish-purple bruise right on Hitoshura's collar bone…. A bruise that Isamu had left for him accidently. He really didn't know how to react to seeing that. He'd never given somebody one of _those_before!

"Ar… Erm… s-sorry about that…"

Hitoshura shrugged, resetting his shirt to the proper place. "Trust me- I don't mind."

Once again, Isamu blushed darkly. "G-geez, you idiot… don't say shit like that…" That smirk on Hitoshura's face was more terrifying then his words. It made Isamu blush even more. Lucky for him though the waitress returned with their drinks and to take their orders, saving Isamu for another few moment of awkwardly avoiding the subject of importance. Once they'd each ordered sandwiches though, there was nothing to stop the impending awkward conversation.

Isamu tapped his fingers on the table deathly interested in the salt shaker for some reason. Certainly wouldn't have anything to do with him not wanting to look at Hitoshura, no.

"So…I suppose…"

As he trailed off, Hitoshura leaned back and ran a hand through his unruly black hair. "We should figure out what this is."

Isamu huffed. "You are so blunt! ...but yeah…" Oh lord this was what he had been dreading all day. "Y-You know you're…awesome. Like you're a great friend… and a fucking excellent kisser!" Hitoshura couldn't help but smirk like a pleased cat. "I just. I'm not really wanting a b-boyfriend," he sputtered awkwardly on that word. It just tasted weird in his mouth. Felt odd to use the combination of 'boy' and 'friend' like that.

"Like… I really, really liked what we did the other day. I would even… be okay with doing more of it, but like… seriously I don't wanna be tied down or anything." He flipped his hand around all smugly. "Come on there's enough of this awesomeness to go around~

"…So… If you wanna stop what we're doing, whatever, or if you wanna continue and are cool with being…"

"Friends with benefits?" Hitoshura sounded bitter, and practically spat out the phrase.

"Well… yeah, basically."

Isamu knew Hitoshura wouldn't agree to it. He wasn't as flakey as himself. He often talked about wanting a girlfriend, rather than how most guys just wanted a fling. Hitoshura wouldn't want to keep up their little game of-

"Sure."

Wait…what…

Isamu blurted out just that. The first thought that popped into his head was the only thing that he could vocalize at that moment.

Hitoshura shrugged. "Fine with me if you don't want to date right away. I'm cool with just doing stuff like that." He leaned forward, putting on a slightly intimidating expression. "If I have to make you fall for me the hard way- so be it."No way he was just going to give up on totally monopolizing Isamu, not after he'd already made the decision to do so. No Hitoshura would still get the other boy, one way or another.

Hitoshura seemed to be very possessive.

That smirk made its return and Isamu's spine prickled. His face felt really hot and he could only make this stuttered squeaking sound. "W-w- geez!" He finally managed. "Aren't you full of yourself."

Hitoshura leaned back, grinning wildly. "Yep."

Growling softly, Isamu leaned this time. "Fine! If you're so confident, we'll see just how charming you really are! I'll prove to you that I won't fall for you- you…" Damn, and he was normally good with the witty comebacks.

Hitoshura could tell Isamu was lost for words, and smirked as though to say 'challenge accepted.'

* * *

><p>The rain had slowed from its once unforgiving torrent to a gentle lulling drizzle. The streets were mostly cleared though as people still didn't tell feel like getting themselves rained on if they could avoid that at all. Hitoshura's hoody had returned to his body, but it was ineffective in reality at warming him up like he'd hoped. Both he and Isamu shivered under the chilling rain as they walked back to the train station, the younger feeling the effects of the rain more than Hitoshura. He clutched at his shoulders subtly, in a way that hinted he was trying to warm himself up. The other wanted to do something to help, but during the lunch conversation earlier one of the ground rules set was no kissing or anything coupley in public.<p>

The two boys had only set three rules for this little deal of their's. Nothing in public, as stated before, which Hitoshura could understand and would live with. Second, if they could avoid it, they were not suppose to leave any visible hickeys. Hitoshura gave Isamu lots of shit for that rule and pointed out the one left on his neck numerous times just to see the way he'd blush and play it off as Hitoshura's own fault. That was fun to watch. Finally, their last rule was that no way, under any kind of circumstance would they ever, ever, ever tell Chaiki about this deal- ever! That was the one rule neither boy argued about one bit.

While there would probably be issues and other rules to be set later on, they left it at just those three for now. They shouldn't have been too hard to follow either.

However, Hitoshura was about to break one right now as Isamu's shivering was getting worse as was the speed of the rain. It poured down in a heavier tempo; the boys were both soaked to the skin already, so Hitoshura grabbed the other by the wrist.

He and Isamu- Isamu by force- ducked into a nearby alleyway despite the loudly voiced protests by the shorter. "Wha- Hito, what are you doing!" Isamu gasped, unable to fight back or resist the other's forceful tug.

Hitoshura turned giving the other a glare. "Just come here!"

Isamu most defiantly did not like being told what to do. If he was going to be ordered around he at least wanted to know what he was doing exactly rather than a vague suggestion. As Hitoshura drug him further back into the eerily dark alleyway, Isamu hissed and squirmed. "Let me go! What are you doing?" Suddenly he was shoved against the wall, temporarily shielded from the rain by the overhanging roof. "Hitoshura! What are you-"

Next thing Isamu knew, he was pulling tightly against Hitoshura's larger frame. He blushed, squirmed, and sputtered adorably, and the taller didn't loosen his grip.

"You are so cold."

Isamu flushed darkly. The other had agreed to not showing affection in public, but even with that Hitoshura concern for Isamu was strong enough to pull him away from public. "H-Hito…"

He tucked Isamu's head under his chin. His hand slid up and down the other's soaked spine, desperately wanting to make him stop shivering, Hitoshura just didn't realize that him holding Isamu was actually making him shudder with something else. The warmth radiating off Hitoshura flowed onto the shorter giving him a weirdly comforting and pleasurable feeling. He slowly brought his hands up clutching the front of Hitoshura's sweatshirt as though he would get lost if he didn't hold on for dear life. The overwhelming feel of comfort made Isamu almost light headed, he thought he knees would drop out from beneath him.

"Hito!" he gasped leaning closer in a flutter.

"Isamu," Hitoshura cooed back. He held onto the other tightly, keeping him as close and warm as possible. His own heart was thumping rapidly, and he didn't miss the way his body had begun to pulse in pleasure. Being this close to Isamu was making his whole body tingle with excitement. He wanted to kiss him. Right now.

So he did just that. Reached right down and hungrily captured the lips he had already grown accustom to. It was now easy for the two boys to find just the right angle, speed, and depth to kiss one other with. Hitoshura's hands slipped down to caress the other's waist, and he felt him tip forward to get even closer. But it was raining behind Hitoshura, so rather then run the risk of getting them more soaked Hitoshura pushed Isamu back against the bricks.

Isamu misread the action as some kind of challenge. His teeth began combating with Hitoshura's lips, and he rubbed the bulge in his pants up against the noticeable one in Hitoshura's

Hitoshura tossed his head back. "Isamu!" In a move neither of them saw coming when contrasting against the sweet embrace they had been in, his hands both moved down to squeeze Isamu's ass just like yesterday.

Hadn't this originally been to keep Isamu from getting cold in the rain? They really were just horny teenagers that needed to be kept apart…

"I want you."

Isamu's knees nearly dropped out when Hitoshura's desire laced voice growled that in his ear. God he wanted him so badly too! He wasn't one hundred percent sure what he wanted from him, but he wanted it whatever it was!

Hitoshura was working on another plan though. It would kill him a bit physically, but in theory the pay off later would be worth it. So he pulled away. Isamu's hands desperately clawed for the other's retreating sweatshirt not wanting to give him up or his warmth. His face was one of total confusion as he dazedly tried to souly support his own weight with his wiggly legs.

"The rain's slowed down," Hitoshura cocked his head to the alley face. "We should go; we'll miss our train."

Isamu shook his head; the other turned around and began walking away. "Bu- wha- No!"

Hitoshura cast a glance over his shoulder. "Hm?"

This would be the defining moment. Would Isamu's pride get in his way again? Would he be legitimately honest with Hitoshura?

Chewing on his lip Isamu's voice got clogged somewhere in his throat. Normally he was out spoken around his friends. Never afraid to say what was right on his mind. Today though he couldn't say what he wanted. It was embarrassing to make it seem like Hitoshura had that much control over him. Weak in the knees, face flushed, heart pounding already… What would it be like if he did let him go farther?

Surely Isamu would completely lose himself if he gave Hitoshura that much control.

"Y-yeah," he mumbled, readjusting his hat. "Let's get going."

* * *

><p>The train ride back was really weird for both of them. Hitoshura was a little more calm and collected, yet he still had his legs crossed at just the right angle to hide his… problem. Isamu was a little more awkward about trying to hide his, placing a book over the spot and looking really obvious about it. It was probably because the cause of their arousal was right next to both of them still, but they just could not get them to go down… no matter what awkward creepy thoughts they filled their heads with.<p>

When Isamu's stop came up he jumped up, breathing a sigh of relief. "S-See you later!" He practically sprinted off the train, barely even giving Hitoshura the chance to say goodbye. Thank God that he lived just three streets down from the station. Isamu couldn't get the door unlocked fast enough, nor could he dash back to his room fast enough. Again he thanked God, this time for the fact that his father wasn't home to yell at him about something.

Not bothering with any sense of decency Isamu rapidly shed off his wet clothes, and just randomly tossed them about his floor. Geez, it was freezing! His teeth chattered, and he moved one room over to the bathroom, heading straight into the shower. The water was actually really, really warm. It felt amazing after being stuck in the chill spring rain.

However, it just couldn't compare to the feel of sinking into Hitoshura's arms. Isamu's thoughts went straight back to the scene in the alley. After all, that had been his goal here. Hand dragging down his abdomen, he shuddered and gave a cracked moan. "H-Hito…"

In his mind, Hitoshura stood behind him. His hands were touching all over Isamu's body like he wanted to map out every plain and crease. In reality Isamu began touching his own arousal, the steamy water acting as a lubricant and as the warmth that could be acquired from another human. He moaned; Hitoshura was biting and panting at his ear now. His large slightly calloused hand rubbed at Isamu's member.

"Isamu…"

The raventte tossed his head back, nearly hitting it against the shower tiles. "Hiiiiitoooo~" Isamu's body shuddered even heavier then when under the rain as he came.

Once the intense tremors were passing, he relaxed back against the tiles and a heavy sense of guilt started to sink in. Isamu had just got off on the thought of Hitoshura touching him, pleasuring him all the way to completion. He had just came with his best friend's name tumbling off his lips. "Shit…" he ran a hand through his dripping hair. This was messed up…

Isamu begrudgedly finished up his shower, actually using it for its intended purpose now. He got out, water turning cold now due to wasted time anyways, and dried off. Returning to his room he was able to change into some nice warm clothes and dive onto the welcoming bed. Just as he was about to fall asleep and end up taking an afternoon catnap, he remembered something.

Sitting up suddenly, Isamu hunted down his phone which had previously just been thrown somewhere across his messy floor. He tapped out a quick text message to both Chaiki and Hitoshura. _'Hey don't forget we are visiting Ms. Takao at 10 tomorrow. Meet us at Yoyogi park, then we'll go to the Shinjuku Medical Center together.'_

* * *

><p><em>Beep, Beep<em>

Hitoshura lazily rolled his head back to look at his phone. He swallowed around his gasps for air, and reached over to his bedside table for tissues. He wiped off his sticky hand before turning his attention to his phone. Ironic that it would be Isamu's number flashing across his screen. Amused by this, Hitoshura read the text, with a nod to himself.

His whole body still felt limp from his actions of self pleasure. If he could, Hitoshura thought sinking right into the bed would feel amazing right about now. This was not the first time that he had let himself fantasize about Isamu's hand on him, nor was it the first time he'd imagined doing the same to the younger boy. Hell, he'd wanted to do just that in the alley, but Hitoshura was trying to bring Isamu to him. Where was the fun if he just came right out and gave everything right to him? No, Hitoshura would make Isamu beg and admit that he truly wanted Hitoshura.

Although… at this point Hitoshura was worrying if he really would be able to hold out longer than Isamu. Well it didn't matter… he still had plenty of time before graduation to try and bring Isamu to him.

As Hitoshura placed his phone back on the bed side table, he glanced out the windows again. The clouds still hazed the greenish gray about the cityscape of Tokyo. It made him shudder a little. Weird…


	4. Chapter 4

"Believe in it… and live."

"I don't… understand." Hitoshura mumbled, still trying to blink through a haze.

"I want you to say my name Hitoshura."

He couldn't really make out the figure in front of him, yet the words effortlessly spilled passed his lips. "Takao…. Yuko…" It was like he was not truly in control of his actions right now.

"That's right; my name is Takao Yuko. Hitoshura… I won't shed another tear, not even at the world's end." She said this very flatly, like all emotion had truly been drained from Hitoshura's teacher and friend. "I'd like to see you in the next world though. Now… go on and wake up."

"YOYGI PARK! YOYGI PARK!"

The train lurched as it slowed to a stop, and Hitoshura was nearly jarred right out of his seat as well as his sleep. He gripped the front edge of his seat for dear life, blinking in wide-eyed confusion as he tried gathering his bearings. Yoyogi Park... yeah, yeah… this was his stop. He stood up clearing his throat and exited the already empty train car.

He looked around the station. Empty as well… Something about this was unsettling to Hitoshura. Granted it was a Thursday at 10:15 a.m. …But still; it shouldn't be so empty in here.

Hitoshura was just about to calm himself down with reason and logic, when his phone vibrated in his pocket and made him jump about 10 feet in the air. He covered his heart and sighed deeply in embarrassment. Glad there was no one around to see that… He checked it huffily to see that Isamu had called and left a voicemail for him at some point during his train ride. He'd never even heard it ring…

"You're late… You're way late Hito! You haven't forgotten that we're going to meat Ms. Takao, have you? Hurry up and get over to Yoyogi Park. You're wasting my quality time!" There was a pause in the message. "N-not that we need quality time- er… shit!"

Hitoshura smirked as he could perfectly see Isamu's face turning bright red in his mind. He could be so awkward at times.

"I-I don't care if you come or not." Lie obviously- his tone gave that away. "But Ms. Takao's nicer to me when you're around. Oh and if you haven't left your house yet, you should wear that jacket you bought the other day. You know, the one with a demon graphic on it? You look nice in that. N-not that I care obviously; you're just the mood maker. Don't forget that."

Rolling his eyes, Hitoshura put his phone away, and began to head out the station. Something- or rather someone- caught his eye before he left the building however. "Whoa, there's a customer!"

The high schooler rudely blinked at the station attendant with blank disinterest. He kind of shrugged, not sure what else to say.

"There hasn't really been anyone around here today," the station attendant was a middle aged man who was probably used to a lot of people being around the station. He must not have liked the lonely atmosphere today. "It must have been because of the riots."

Now Hitoshura was suddenly interested in conversation with the man. "Riots?"

The other's eyes widened. "What! You mean you haven't heard?" He became a bit animated as he began to explain the situation to Hitoshura, using his hands to talk. "Oh yeah! It was all over the news. There was a big riot at Yoyogi Park yesterday. Lots of people died apparently!"

"Wha-" Hitoshura gasped. He most certainly had not heard about that… where the hell had he been! Oh right… Thinking about Isamu all night like some stupid love sick girl… Whoops.

"Yeah," The attendant nodded. "Apparently the park is still blocked off. I heard there are cops are all over the place- its real bad over there."

Hitoshura's stomach dropped. He hoped that Isamu and Chiaki were alright. "Ah, I see. Have a nice day." He told the attendant, hurrying out of the train station and taking off towards Yoyogi Park. The whole area even around the park was eerily quiet, as most people were probably avoiding it due to the riots, but this is where Isamu and Chiaki had asked to meet… So Hitoshura pushed passed the dreadful feeling and entered the park.

Yoyogi Park truly did look like it had been through an ordeal… There was police tape around, blocking off parts of the park, and for the most part it was completely deserted, not even Chiaki or Isamu appeared to be around. The only person Hitoshura saw was an oddly dressed gentleman, holding a hat.

"Oh… I figured I would be the only person here," the man said, looking over to Hitoshura with surprise.

Hitoshura walked over to him. "I'm looking for my friends. Have you seen two high school students by chance?"

He shook his head. "No I haven't. I'm a reporter you see. I'm just here to investigate the riot that happened yesterday."

Damn…. Where did Isamu and Chiaki go? "Ah, I see… well thank you."

The man waved Hitoshura off, "Don't worry, sorry I couldn't be of any real help. I-"

Before either of them could say anything else, Hitoshura's phone rang out loudly. "Excuse me," he told the other, pulling the phone out. _Chiaki_ Hitoshura immediately answered it.

"Hi, Hitoshura? It's me." Chiaki sighed in frustration. "I finally got a hold of you. What have you been doing all this time? I could see it if it was Isamu, but you are never late."

Hitoshura heard an annoyed 'Hey!' in the background from a distinctly Isamu like voice.

"Did something happen? Where are you now?" Chiaki was obviously not in the mood to listen to Isamu.

"I'm at Yoyogi Park."

"Well since you didn't show up on time, Isamu and I left without you. So can you come directly to the hospital?"

Hitoshura nodded, "Sure, Shinjuku Medical Center right?"

"Yeah, Shinjuku Medical Center is just east of Shinjuku Station. You can't miss it." She sighed, "Please just hurry up. I just wanted to talk to Ms. Takao about what I should do after graduation. I have things to do after that so… also Isamu keeps complaining about how you aren't here yet. He must miss you~" She said it in a way that Hitoshura could tell she was obviously teasing the other boy.

Said other boy responded by cursing, and hissing at her rudely. She and Hitoshura both just laughed. "She's lying!" he shouted loud enough for Hitoshura to hear through the phone. "I so do not miss you!"

"I'll be there soon," Hitoshura managed to tell Chiaki through his chuckles.

She giggled, "Okay then, see you later Hitoshura."

The line clicked off, and Hitoshura closed his own phone, putting it back in his pocket. Okay so off to Shinjuku Medical Center it seems…

"Wait, did you say you were headed to Shinjuku Medical Center?"

Hitoshura gave the reporter a leery eye. "Yes?" What was with everyone and starting conversations with him today? It was a little odd, but whatever, Hitoshura could deal with it. As long as this guy would hurry up so that he could go meet Isamu and Chiaki soon. Something about being at the park after a riot was just weird…

The man nodded, playing with the hat in his hands a bit. "I see… I'm going over there as well. Before you go…" he trailed off and began to dig in a bag at his side. Giving a triumphant little 'Ah-ha,' this strange man, pulled out what appeared to be a magazine. "Take this."

Hitoshura hesitantly took the magazine that had been extended to him. _Ayakashi Monthly_. He'd never heard of it before…

"Since you're going to the medical center you might want that. A word of warning… I heard a rumor that the riots that happened here last night…" The man looked around like someone would have been listening in on their conversation. There wasn't a soul in sight, yet he still leaned in closer and spoke in a hushed tone. "I heard that there were two opposing cults going at it. It just started as a protest, but supposedly one side fired a shot and the whole thing just erupted in chaos." With that he leaned back and pushed some of his long black hair behind his ear.

Nodding slowly, Hitoshura eyed the magazine awkwardly. He was missing the connection all of this had with the medical center…

"My name's Hijiri," the mysterious man finally introduced himself. "Maybe we will meet again."

"Hitoshura…" the boy replied with a nod. The reporter returned the nod, and then the two went their separate ways. As Hitoshura walked off though, he had this irking feeling that he would indeed see Hijiri somewhere again. Odd…

Shinjuku Medical Center was exactly what you would expect from a typical hospital. Rather, it normally was. Hitoshura had been here another time when his dad had had surgery on his hip, and it had seemed like a normal hospital then. Today however, it was deadly quiet. When he walked through the doors, he hesitated and wondered if they were even open today. There was no one in sight- not even any employees. It looked completely deserted just like every other place he had visited today.

A tingle went up his spine. Okay this was getting freaky… There was a new speed to Hitoshura's step as he hurried into the lobby. A sigh of relief left his body as soon as he saw a familiar face standing in the area, looking a little out of place.

"Hitoshura!" Chiaki gasped. She smoothed out her skirt in a way that would have looked like a girl fussing with her appearance in order to impress a boy to any outsider, but Hitoshura knew better. Chiaki came from a wealthy family and always had to make sure she was put together. Her smoothing out her clothes like that was like the same twitchy nervous habit Isamu had except she had been groomed to do it for years. Always had to look put together and professional. Isamu would do it due to vanity. Either way… if either one of them started to fuss about like that… it meant they were nervous.

This was not making Hitoshura feel any easier.

"Y-you know, this hospital… is a little strange…." Now she rubbed at her arm as though cold, just furthing the fact that she was extremely uneasy. "There's… nobody here. Not a single person. Isn't it creepy?"

Hitoshura swallowed with a little difficulty and nodded. "You thought so too then, huh?"

"I don't like it…." Chiaki pouted slightly like a spoiled rich girl not getting what she wanted. "Oh, Isamu is looking for Ms. Takao right now. He hasn't come back yet, though… He better not be fooling around..."

Isamu was missing? Hitoshura bit his tongue and told himself to stop thinking like that. She didn't say that. Rather that he had just been gone awhile… There was no need for him to get all worried about it.

"Hey, what's that magazine?"

Hitoshura was actually glad that Chiaki could so easily change the subject and take both their minds off this creepy hospital for a moment. "Oh this, some guy at the park gave it to me. You want to read it?" He extended the magazine out to her.

With slight hesitation, Chiaki took it from him and gave it a quick once over. "Ayakashi Monthly? Never heard of it before…" She slowly started to flip through the first couple pages. Just as Hitoshura was about to volunteer for the job of hunting down Isamu and take off, she loudly exclaimed. "What! It's an occult magazine! Why would you give something like this to me!"

Hitoshura waved his hands rapidly in a defensive move. "N-no- I didn't know!"

"Ugh," Chiaki flipped through a few more pages. "….well… I guess it might help me kill some time… Hey can you go look for Isamu? If we can't find Ms. Takao, then I don't wanna stay here another minute!"

Before Hitoshura even had a chance to answer, she sat down in one of the clunky seats and opened the magazine to the first page to actually read it. With a sigh, he went off to find the elevator and find Isamu. Elevators had never been something that he was 100 percent comfortable with- trapped in a box that was held only by a little rope wasn't exactly a comforting thought- but when he rode on this one and felt it jerk and shake, that wasn't exactly helping his comfort level. He practically leapt off the metal box of death when the doors slid open. Geez, this whole place was terrifying today…

Hitoshura decided to head to the right, going up and down the east hallway. Nobody in any of those rooms. Nobody. How creepy was that? This was a working hospital right? Just as he left one of the rooms, Hitoshura spotted a figure in the other hallway via the glass windows that gave way to the annex below. There was no mistaking it; that was Isamu over in the west hall.

"Isamu!" he tried calling, but the other didn't seem to hear him, and walked off, past Hitoshura's line of sight. Growling in frustration, he jogged off and around to the other side, beginning to hunt in those rooms as well.

Entering room 203A, Hitoshura breathed a sigh of relief again. Another person. The door made a sharp noise as it closed behind him, and he could visibly see Isamu jump. The boy whipped around, gasping loudly. When he realized it was Hitoshura, Isamu huffed, adjusted his hat, and ever so slightly flushed. "Dude! You scared the crap out me Hito!" Now he played with his jacket. "Why'd you go and startle me like that?" Hitoshura wanted to almost out right laugh; he was pouting so adorably! "You come late, you cause trouble… geez."

Taking a few steps closer to the other Hitoshura chuckled softly. "Sorry Isamu."

"Ugh, whatever…but man, this place is creepy isn't it?" Isamu shuddered lightly, messing with his hat once again. "I know Ms. Takao said Shinjuku Medical Center when I called… but…."

Hitoshura didn't want to make the other nervous, yet the next thing just slipped out due to his own case of paranoia. "Maybe something happened…"

The other's face dropped. He was obviously just as freaked out as Hitoshura was; Isamu was just better at actually showing it, while he himself was bottling it up some. "W-well they could have at least put up a sign or something, so that visitors aren't totally clueless." His eyes widened dramatically and he stared right at Hitoshura. "Oh my god- this place had better not be contaminated by some deadly virus."

Blinking, Hitoshura cringed and scratched his head. "I… doubt it?" A part of him did suddenly feel sick to his stomach now. God this was just terrible…

"Ugh… I can't find Ms. Takao anywhere. Let's just go back and check on Chiaki for now." He groaned, "She's probably mad at me for being gone so long isn't she?" Hitoshura nodded, clearly remembering her annoyed tone in his head. "Ugh, it's hard to please a girl with her upbringing…"

Hitoshura just gave a disbelieving shake of his head. He didn't move then, waiting rather for Isamu to pass him, upon which he placed a hand on the shorter's shoulder. Isamu looked up at him. "Hey," Hitoshura finally said softly, "don't worry. I'm sure Ms. Takao is fine." The way Isamu always drooled over their teacher was a little weird or down right annoying sometimes, but his worry for her was definitely genuine. And Hitoshura hated to see Isamu upset like this.

Sighing, Isamu showed the slightest bit of compassion by placing his own hand over Hitoshura's. Not to push it away, but as a silent 'thank you,' that he was too arrogant to actually say out loud. Rather he managed to mumble. "I really hope that this is nothing we should be worrying about…" With that he pulled away from his best friend and left the room.

There was another unsettling thought. Just watching Isamu walk out like that made his stomach drop just slightly. Hitoshura didn't like splitting up from him or Chiaki today. This hospital was freaking him out, and he just did not want to be alone right now. And that was a really weird thing to say… Hitoshura had always valued his privacy. He had friends obviously, but they didn't control his life or anything. There were days were it was nice to just be alone, not bothered by anyone else. Today however, was not one of those days…

He finally left the room, taking a quick moment to check the room next door. Still nobody. No sight of Isamu in the hallway, Hitoshura thought the other boy must have taken the elevator back down, so he gladly chose the stairs this time as his way of moving floors. On the way back to the lobby, on a whim, he thought he'd also check some first floor rooms. All but one of them was locked and blocked off, and of course the single open one had nobody inside. Okay… once again- creepy.

"Oh, you're back," Chiaki said, raising her head at the sound of Hitoshura's footsteps filling the previously empty lobby. Huh, no Isamu yet it seemed.

He gave her a nod while noticing the pained or worried look on her face, even more so than before. "Um… Hitoshura… You know that special report at the beginning of the magazine?"

He raised an eyebrow, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets. "No? I didn't read it yet or anything…"

Swallowing with noticeable difficulty, Chiaki shook her head ever so slightly. "Well, it says somethings that are a little disturbing…" She flipped back to the first page, like she was ready to read off it, yet she kept looking right at Hitoshura. "According to the report, there's a group of demon worshippers who call themselves the Gaea cult…They're right here in Japan. Anyways, they believe in this book of prophecy called the Scripture of Miroku. In that book it says that chaos will befall the world, and these people are actually trying to make that happen."

Hitoshura shuddered. He'd never heard of any of this stuff before… but he could already tell that he didn't like it.

"The reporter was unable to learn what it meant by chaos… it could be worldwide terrorism, or some other tragedy… b-but…"

_Bang!_

HItoshura jumped about ten feet in the air and whipped around. Chiaki flinched just as much, looking like she was ready to just get up and run at any moment. Lucky for them, the only person to walk it was a guilt free Isamu. "No luck finding Ms. Takao," he said walking towards them. "I even checked the men's room."

Chiaki sighed in extreme frustration, and even Hitoshura looked pissed. "We didn't need to know that!" She yelled throwing her head back in annoyance. "We're in the middle of a conversation, thank you very much!"

Defensively putting up his hands, Isamu made a face at her to demonstrate that he didn't really care. He did still shut up for her though as he took his spot next to Hitoshura.

"So anyways… in here it says that, 'A hospital on the east side of Shinjuku is closely linked to their plan…'"

Isamu brushed some nonexistent dust of his pristine jacket. "You know… this could be the hospital that they're referring to. I've heard weird stories about this place." He contorted his face in mock horror. "Like they experiment on patients, and how a psychic got scared and ran outta here." He wiggled his fingers, and made his voice all weird like he was from some terrible scary movie. "It may have actually been the influence of some cult."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Chiaki squealed, shuddering. "Shut up! You are such a liar! Stop trying to freak me out!"

The evil boy laughed, but Hitoshura noticed a hint of fear behind that laugh. Now he started to nervously play with his hair. This was freaking Isamu out more than he wanted to let on to the others. "Maybe we should leave…."

Nodding vigorously, Chiaki closed the magazine. "I normally don't take this kind of magazine too seriously, but there definitely something wrong with this hospital!"

There was a moment a silence where they were all thinking the same thing- _let's get the hell out of here_. Isamu spoke up though before anyone else. "…I'm… worried about Ms. Takao. Let's at least check for her once more." He looked nervous, but also dedicated.

Hitoshura looked at Chiaki. A part of him wanted to say 'no,' and he could tell she hoped he'd say that. But at the same time… he was worried about Ms. Takao as well. Something finally came back to him right at that moment. His dream. All of this… was probably going to end horribly. "Yeah, I'm worried… Let's just check one last time and then get the hell out of here."

Chiaki sighed or maybe it was a groan really. "Fine, fine! If you guys want to go look around that's fine… but I'm not moving." To emphasize her point, Chiaki firmly crossed both her arms and legs, trying to look comfortable. A hard feat on those clunky chairs.

On the other hand, Isamu was grinning like an idiot in front of Hitoshura. "Thanks Hito," he said, digging in his pocket. "I think I can access the annex from the second floor. You can check the basement; here."

_ID Card_. Hitoshura looked over the card. He remembered seeing a fourth button in the elevator for the basement, but he had obviously never, never thought about actually going down there. God this day sucked! "…okay…" he agreed with heavy reluctance.

"Why don't you go search the basement yourself Isamu?" Chiaki asked with a glare. "…you aren't scaaaaaaaaaaaared are you?"

"O-of course not!" Isamu puffed up his chest trying to act all tough. "I know that she wouldn't be down there, that why I'm having Hito go! I have to be the one that finds Ms. Takao after all…"

Hitohsura slapped a hand over his face.

"What! You can just run like hell if anything bad happens!"

"Mmhm…" Hitoshura obviously wasn't convinced as he rolled his eyes.

Chiaki sighed. "I cannot believe him sometimes…." Scoffing, she slowly turned her attention back to the magazine. She seemed to be leery to read any more after the information about the hospital already came up. What else was she suppose to do at a time like this though? "Good luck. I'll be waiting here."

Hitoshura nodded to the shorter boy, and they headed to the elevator side by side. After Hitoshura hit the button, he just stared forward. "Are you sure about this?"

"About what?" Isamu fixed his hat again, "Splitting up?"

Exactly…. Hitoshura nodded in conformation.

The other gave him a shrug, "We'll be fine. Chiaki's got her magazine to keep her busy in the lobby. I'm just going to the annex- not like I can get in that much trouble there."

"You can get in trouble anywhere."

Isamu flushed, "Shut up!" He shoved his hands in his pockets with a huff. "Jerk…"

The elevator doors opened with a soft _ding_. A soft creaking noise sounded as Isamu stepped in, and his eyes grew five times there normal size. Terrifying… completely and utterly unsafe… Sighing deeply, Hitoshura took the plunge by gently stepping into the scary contraption. _CREEEEEEEAK_ went the elevator again, but it held alright and the boys didn't fall to their death. Whimpering at the noise, Isamu quickly hit the button for the second floor. They watched as the doors slid shut, agonizingly slowly as though mocking them, their hearts beating quickly against their chests. Isamu took a step closer to Hitoshura as the box jerked to life with movement.

Just as the last time he'd ridden up to the second floor, the elevator shook and swayed sickeningly with what Hitoshura hoped was just age. Isamu was finally the one to save them both from having to listen to the mechanical clanks. "H-hey… be careful in the basement and stuff…" Hitoshura suddenly found a set of blue-grey eyes staring up at him sadly. "I'd be super pissed at you if you got yourself hurt, okay." True to Isamu fashion, he flushed just a little around the edges of his face. It sure didn't sound like it, but this really was his way of trying to be sweet and genuinely concerned for his friends well being.

Hitoshura had no idea what it was, but suddenly an even more sinking feeling filled the pit of his stomach. He was filled with this overwhelming sense of dread just as the elevator doors began to open. _Isamu!_ Did he actually call out his name? Or did he just lunge forward like that, grabbing his wrist before he left the elevator? Ah, Hitoshura couldn't tell or really care, either way something washed over him, making him quickly pull Isamu back to his side.

The shorter boy was shocked when Hitoshura's lips roughly and desperately crashed against his own. It wasn't the same rough passion as just yesterday, or, hell, any day that they'd shared a kiss for that matter. No, this felt different… more like Hitoshura was afraid. Isamu could taste it on his lips, and he himself pushed against the other needily.

Their fingers quickly entangled together, Hitoshura squeezing at the longer, more dexterous digits, and Isamu touched the other's cheek briefly. When time came that they needed air, they seemed to both shoot apart, just staring at one another.

Panting slightly, Isamu softly pulled his hands back never taking his eyes of Hitoshura. He bit at his now wet lip, before stepping back off the elevator. For safety measures, Isamu punched the button for the basement right as he took that final step off. As much as he didn't want to do this alone, he feared Hitoshura would follow him, and right now somebody had to explore the basement.

"Be careful Hito…"

Hitoshura watched the other, the door hesitating a bit longer before closing to take him down. The black haired boy tried to look confident, but Hitoshura could sense a fear in his cloudy eyes. When eve-

_CRASH_

Isamu whipped around wildly, trying to figure out what the hell that was! It was loud whatever it was, and had come from behind him on this floor. To make matters worse, the doors to the elevator where closing. _Shit!_ Now there was no helping Isamu even if Hitoshura wanted to. "Isamu!" he called, still stepping forward in the elevator even knowing it would get him no where.

Fear engulfed the younger boy. "Hito!" he yelped, trying to catch the doors, but he was way to late. They slammed angrily shut right before his eyes, only to leave him with another highly uncomforting creaking noise. "Hitoshura!"

Isamu was suddenly more afraid then ever.


	5. Chapter 5

Isamu's reflection stared back at him coldly in the silver elevator doors. He could clearly see the terror swimming within his own eyes.

_Hitoshura_…

Never before had Isamu wanted to see the other so badly. Being alone in a place like this was scary… He wanted Hitoshura by his side to protect him.

The boy looked at himself a little closer. He didn't like the terrified reflection he got back. What was he saying? Isamu stood up taller; he could take care of himself! After all, he was supposed to go save Ms. Takao. Yeah, Isamu would be the one to find her, get her out of there, and then she would respect him more. Chiaki would realize that he actually could do something right, and even Hitoshura would discover that he didn't need to totally be relied on. Straitening up, Isamu smiled at his reflection. Yeah this would be no pr-

_CRASH_!

Isamu spun completely around, eyes widening. What the hell was that! It sounded like… like… something really heavy crashing to the ground, which would have made sense, except Isamu had seen with his own two eyes the fact that there was nobody around. No person could be making such a loud noise if there was no body around.

Isamu gulped. "Okay…" he took a few steps down the hallway. "Just go to the annex… and look for Ms. Takao… no big deal…" The clack, clack, clack of his boots on the titled floor was defining today. It made his heart beat fast, which made him walk faster, which only made the sound more eerie. It was an endless cycle.

Throwing the door to the hallway open, Isamu tumbled through into the glass walk way of the annex. Out here, it was brighter than in the hospital, yet there was an overhanging darkness to the sky. Green, orange, and blue all blended together to make this horrible smear of a color, that was almost sickening. Isamu sneered up at it; nasty…

Now was not the time to criticize the paint pallet of the sky however. Isamu trotted right up to the door, typed in a number that shown on the card, before swiping it through the reader. There was a soft click from the door unlocking itself. Like a proud cat, Isamu smirked and pushed through the door. He had gotten the right card- he was so good~

Isamu had never been here before. Well, he had been in the hospital quite a lot when he was younger. Around the time his mother had first started to get sick, he came here a lot with his father to visit her, but he had never been into the annex. No idea why… It was actually nice in here. The atmosphere was welcoming with lots of plants and nice paintings dotting the walls. Down the hallway, the glass windows that showcased the garden were beautifully garnished and nicely added to the otherwise dark hallways.

Much to his disappointment though, Isamu could not find anything. He nervously wandered around the whole annex, playing with his jacket, hat, and even messing with a string hanging off his ripped jeans as he went. Nothing. Still not a single person anywhere around the hospital. The only thing he got… was that same loud noise three different times as he wandered around. Every single time Isamu jumped still not expecting it. The noise also seemed to be changing directions. Once it came from behind him. Another it seemed to be only a few yards in front of him- that time really scared the shit out of him! The third time it sounded like it was above him of all things…

Okay, he'd had enough. Isamu was ready to leave now. Ms. Takao or not, he wanted to find the other two and get out of here. Their teacher must have left… if not, maybe they were at the wrong hospital. Either way, Isamu was done looking right now. He was definitely worried about Ms. Takao, yeah, but right now his own fear was taking priority.

Isamu made his way back through one of the annex's side hallways, off to the elevator once again. However it happened again. _CRASH_went… well whatever it was. This time it literally sounded about a foot behind him, making Isamu freak out. He loudly yelped, feet tangling around one another making him tumble awkwardly backwards at an angle. It was just enough of an angle to make him crack right back against the wall- hitting head first of course.

"Fuck…" Isamu whined weakly, grabbing at the back of his head. His vision already clouded. Damn, he'd hit hard… "Sh-shit…" he added to go with his other curse.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them only to see something weird. He must have been hallucinating, because there was no way what he saw was real. Outside the hospital… floating, flying, swimming, whatever, in the annex garden… was a giant fish! It looked exactly like one of those manta rays from the ocean. The thing circled around once, before it looked at Isamu, making this low growling hissing noise.

"Nnn," Isamu blinked his eyes shut, clutching at his head once more. "N-nnn… H-Hito… help me…"

The world rapidly slipped away from Isamu… his hands fell back to the floor and he slumped down further against the wall, before just crumpling all the way down.

* * *

><p>Heavy metal doors opened wide when the elevator hit the basement. Hitoshura could only see part way through the black gloom, but what he could see was enough to tell that he already didn't like this… His brain screamed at him <em>'Time to go!'<em>but his feet seemed frozen. No, not frozen… rather they were fueled to move forward. It was insane, but for whatever reason, Hitoshura was actually drawn forward to continue his quest.

All that he needed to do anyways was explore the basement…. Easy. Just check a few rooms and then he could return right upstairs to make sure Isamu was okay. Then they'd travel together to find Chiaki and get the hell out of there. Maybe afterwards they could call Ms. Takao. She would then clear everything right up for them, and the three could just move on like this day never, never happened…

Okay…. No problem then.

Hitoshura took a moment, closed his eyes, and sighed deeply. Okay… he started toward the gate, twisting the ID card twitchily around in his fingers. Isamu said this would work, and by God it did. He would have to give the other credit later. The dark old gate began creepily sliding open with a horrible clinking noise. THIS WHOLE PLACE WAS TERRIFYING!

Giving another exasperated sigh, Hitoshura looked behind him to the elevator quickly, before biting the bullet and continuing onward. At the end of the hallway he noted a large heavy door, that even from so far back he could tell trying to open it would be a futile effort. Safer to try the first door. 'OPE-A01' appeared on the door in chalky lettering, yet this one had an easy to open handle, unlike the door at the hall's end, despite its heavy duty appearance.

It was dark inside, but Hitoshura could still see enough. Enough to scare him damn near shitless. His eyes widened and he paused at the door. What was it Chiaki had said about a cult operating here?

Across the floor… in what could have been either blood or paint… was a giant red circle with various runes or scripts that often get associated with weird cult like or paranormal activities. Heavy red, out of place curtains hung in various places, getting dangerously close to some candles that could send the whole place up in flames had they been lit. The fact that there was a silver operating table above the circle fit quite terrifyingly with the rest of the décor.

Hitoshura stepped back and slammed the door shut. He didn't move. Just stood there for a few minutes staring at the door, trying to remind himself how the art of breathing worked. Taking in air was suddenly a difficult, hard to master science. It took a few legitimate gulps of air before he was able to even think about moving.

Giving a heavy shuddered, Hitoshura was pretty sure he'd regained enough courage to continue searching. Across the hall, a door with the same blocky lettering read, OPE-A02. Hitoshura had to wonder what the letters all stood for, but the desire to find out was not strong enough for him to go through the door just yet. As he walked up to it, the strangest noises were coming form the other side. Nope, nope, Hitoshura was cool with waiting to check that room last. What was it Isamu had said? If something went bad he could just run like hell? Yeah that seemed like a decent plan in retrospect.

Crossing the hall again put Hitoshura in front of OPE-A03 (well they were obviously going up in number.) As he caught that detail, he wished so badly that his brain would ignore what else he was seeing too. Blood. Splattered all across the floor, even on the right wall partly.

No, he was seeing things. It was just paint- yeah… yeah… Had to be.

With a shaking hand, Hitoshura opened the door. Eyes widening, the boy forced himself to swallow back a scream. There were hospital beds around the outside of the room, and an operating table in the center. There were some rather deadly looking tools all around the room- all of them stained heavily with blood. There was blood on every bed. The center table. Everywhere.

Again, Hitoshura slammed the door, froze and tried to breath normally. "What the fuck…!" Was all that he could manage to gasp out between choked breaths. That was it. He had to leave.

Hitoshura didn't run. Just took up a brisk pace, walking back toward the exit. That should have been the end of it, yet he slowed passing by that second room again. He heard it again; it was an eerie humming that filled his ears.

Oh lord he was gonna regret this… but if there really was cult related stuff going on here-which, yeah, obviously- Ms. Takao could have wound up in some kind of danger. Maybe that was why they couldn't find her. Plus, really, it was one room. What could the harm be?

Hitoshura sucked in sharply through his teeth and entered the room suddenly. The door ended up slamming shut right behind him as he stepped in, leaving him in the dim, blue light of computer monitors. There was a strange circular thing in the center of the small room and before it sat a plush office chair.

"…Well," rang out a deep voice. "What do we have here?" the chair spun around to relieve a middle aged, balding man. He was sharply dressed in slacks and a button down shirt. "Who dares to disrupt this stillness?"

Who? Uh… HItoshura's mind went blank. This atmosphere was overwhelming. The man's presence just crushed all his skills at rhetoric (which were few to begin with) and all he could do was open his mouth dumbly.

The man cradled his check in a bored hand. "How irritating."

Well that was arrogant and rude!

Sighing, he closed his eyes and spoke on since Hitoshura still could not do so. "A well-known poet once said, 'April is the cruelest month.' Do you know why that is, boy?"

'Boy?' Hitoshura somehow still found the brain power and muscle control to shake his head no at least.

"Because it is then that one must wake up from a long sleep and face the world once more." The man continued on, speaking of mankind's sins, flaws through out their history, and something about the world's end. But Hitoshura wasn't following a word of it. His eyes kept darting around to the monitors, hoping to see something that would hint as to what was going on, but they were all blank. Who was this man? Was he in fact with a cult? Or was this all some weird thing the hospital was doing and he was some kind of deranged director?

"Who are you, boy?" Hitoshura drew his eyes back to the man in the chair. He still looked bored, as he flipped one hand around. "I do not remember you from the survivors of the park purging…"

Park… purging? The riot last night? Hitoshura's eyes narrowed just slightly. So… this all really was the work of a cult wasn't it! "I'm just here to find Ms. Takao… What have you done with her?"

The man's reaction to that was a bit strange. First he blinked, then smiled, and finally he laughed. It was odd when he did so, because suddenly he looked much less intimidating. As he smiled and laughed in the light of the computer monitors, the winkles of his face shifted around making his face look younger. The harshness of his eyes was drawn away once the laughter made them shut. "'What did I do with her?' Oh now that is rich." He smiled at Hitoshura, "I see; you came to visit her didn't you, boy?"

Hitoshura gritted his teeth, clenching one hand into a fist. This bastard was laughing at him… he didn't like this. Between all this cult stuff and the obvious fact that he _did_know something about Takao.

Apparently this man could sense Hitoshura's anger. He sighed, eyes closing once again, and he stroked his smile with a finger thoughtfully. "I apologize. I do feel pity for you boy, but…" Eyes opening, that smile fell off his face and he seemed much older and angrier now "Your life ends here!"

What!

Before even getting a chance to react, the man snapped his fingers, and Hitoshura watched as the cylinder behind the chair came to life. Slowly at first, it spun around and around, getting faster and faster until and blinding flash of light came off it. Hitoshura shielded his eyes, stumbling back a fraction. As the light died back down, he slowly opened his eyes once more.

The boy's breath hitched, eyes widening. "The fuck…" Not very eloquent, no, but what exactly was he suppose to say when suddenly face to face with a demon! There really was no other way to describe the thing. It hovered above the man's chair via black, bat like wings, yet it had the body and head of what appeared to be a donkey. But in this dim light and Hitoshura's panic, he could have really been seeing a cat and would never have distinguished it.

Hitoshura took a step back, visibly shaking now. The man smiled at him again. It was creepier this time around, not at all gentle. "Do not fear death, boy. Soon everyone else of this world shall join you. You are just leaving us sooner."

Shit… Hitoshura's mind blanked for a split second. The only thing literally running through his head for at least five whole second was a string of curses that would have so disappointed his mother. However, the monster thing didn't feel like waiting for Hitoshura. It growled at him, waking him from the daze. "Ah!" he gasped sliding a foot back. Alright… he was on the soccer team… So he was kind of fast, but could he out run this… whatever it was? Probably not, it did have wings after all.

So, in a fit of stupidity, he decided not to try it. Instead, his face hardened, he planted his feet, and put two fists up for defense. If running wasn't an option, he wanted to go down fighting.

"You fool," the man gave a disbelieving chuckle. "No one can over come their fate. Fighting it is useless." He thrust his hand out and the demon roared.

You could see the worry scribbled all over Hitoshura's face, but the boy would not give up. His heart raced as the thing started to move its arms around. A fire appeared before the thing, and now Hitoshura was staring to drop what little composure he had left. After all how could he fight something like that? He couldn't throw a punch at fire.

"Stop!"

The door slammed open behind Hitoshura, actually knocking him down from both shock and damn near physically hitting him. He scrambled and flailed around so that he was facing the new person. "Ms. Takao!"

The teacher in question looked to be in prefect health, dressed like she would any day for school, but she also looked very angry. Bypassing Hitohsura completely, she continued to yell at the man in the chair. "Hikawa this is insane… can't you just let one person go? It should have absolutely no effect on our plan." She shot Hitoshura sympathetic look. "Plus he's just a boy…"

Hitoshura, just looked up at her with unblinking eyes. He kept his face as blank as possible. A part of him was happy to see Ms. Takao, obviously, but the other, slightly more rational part was telling him not to trust her right now. She knew this man, apparently by name. What was going on here?

The man that apparently went by the name Hikawa sighed angrily, and that was the first time that Hitoshura realized the demon was no longer above his head. Takao must have disrupted it some how. "The insignificance of the gesture makes no difference. I will not allow any exceptions."

"If you don't save him…" Ms. Takao narrowed her eyes at Hikawa. "I'll stop cooperating with you."

That put what appeared to be genuine concern on the man's face. His eyes widened, then narrowed a bit. He clicked his tongue one, "Such a troublesome Maiden aren't you? Well, I'll leave the teaching to the teacher I suppose. Just don't to it in here." With that he spun the chair around just like he was ending the conversation.

Hitoshura was staring at the chair back when a hand pressed down on his shoulder. He turned to see Ms. Takao smiling warmly at him. "Hitoshura, why do you come meet me up on the roof. We can have a good view of the city from there while we talk."

He wanted to ask her a million questions, so many thoughts running through his head. Yet all he did at that point was nod because he wanted to get the hell out of there. There had been a demon in the same room not even five minutes ago… That seemed like a reasonable excuse to leave. Thinking about it that way made Hitoshura jump up to be at the same level as his teacher. They both quickly walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them so Hikawa wouldn't saying anything else to them.

Taking a few steps in the opposite direction of the elevator, Ms. Takao told the other. "I must do one thing real quickly before I meet you on the roof. But I will explain some of this to you when I do get up there. Just wait for me, alright?"

Hitoshura gave a slightly nervous nod. She waved at him softly before walking towards the room that was stained with all kinds of blood. That wasn't helping his suddenly developed lack of trust. He was just lucky that he'd missed Ms. Takao's whispered comment as she walked from the boy's side. "I'll also show you that which will change the world, Hitoshura."

Obliviously, he stared after her, even once she'd rounded a corner and was out of sight, wondering the whole time if all of his, Isamu's, and Chiaki's faith in their teacher had been misplaced. How long had their teacher been associated with the occult? It was possible that she had lied to them all and was not actually sick this whole time. Rather she might have been doing stuff for the, what was it, Gaea cult? Why would she call the three of them here… knowing that there was a cult here? No teacher should ever do anything that stupid to three of their students.

This was almost too much for poor Hitoshura. He was strong, but even he had a limit as too how much insanity that he could handle in a day. Hopefully if he went to the roof with Ms. Takao she would explain this all, and _then_the three teens could finally just leave. That was all he could hope for once he approached the elevator again. But of course someone would be standing at the end of the hallway, right in front of his destination. Of course. Hitoshura slowed down. It was a little boy with a head of slightly too long blond hair, and bright blue-grey eyes. He cocked his head, tightening his tiny hand around that of the old woman's next to him.

"What's wrong my little master?" The old woman leaned down a little, although Hitoshura couldn't see much about her in general. She may not have been as old as Hitoshura was assuming, but he'd never know from what he saw right now because she was coving her face with a thick lacey funeral veil. "Are you wondering about that person over there?"

The 'person over there' flinched. Hitoshura was just having terrible luck today. Everyone seemed to want something from him, or just did not want to see him. Hopefully these two wouldn't pull a demon out at him this time. He didn't figure that would happen this time, but to be on the safe side, Hitoshura clenched one fist in advanced.

Across from him the little boy frowned a bit, unblinking eyes locked with Hitoshura. After a moment, he leaned up to the old woman, finally turning from the teen. He whispered something to the woman and she nodded.

"I see. My, my… But we're busy at the moment." She straightened up, and the boy also turned back to Hitoshura. "Let's come back later."

The boy nodded, and smiled. It was an innocent smile that suited a little boy like him. Might have even been able to be considered cute… had he and old woman not simply vanished into thin air in the very next second. They didn't fade, it was just… one moment they were there, the next they were not. Hitoshura could only scratch his head at this point. He was pretty much beyond trying to make sense out of anything now.

* * *

><p>After Hitoshura and Isamu had left, the lobby was quiet. Chiaki was left alone with just her thoughts, the creepiest magazine ever, and silence. Not the good kind of silence you want when trying to read or something either. It was just… creepy. Way too quiet to offer any kind of comfort to the poor girl. Chiaki sighed again, nervously biting at her lower lip and rubbing the corner of a page between her nicely manicured fingers. They'd both been gone for an awful long time now… She was starting to get worried about them both. Despite her normal attitude toward him, she really did care about Isamu. Even if he was a self-centered airhead! He was her friend.<p>

Actually though, Hitoshura was her bigger worry right now. Yes, he was most likely a lot more capable of taking care of himself then Isamu was, but…. The basement. What was down there? It was probably pretty big too since this was a pretty important hospital. She worried that if Hitoshura did get in trouble, he might not be able to safely find his way back to the lobby.

Chiaki had never considered herself brave, yet she was still thinking about going after him. A part of it may have been that she really did not like to be alone either, at least not in a place like this. If she went down and found Hitoshura at least she didn't need to face this creepy atmosphere on her own.

Of course, everything in this building was working against all three teenagers, so just as Chiaki was getting ready to go anyways, the lights flickered about five times. She jumped up from her seat and started walking down the hallway. Nope, nuh-uh. There was no way she was going to sit alone in the lobby, in the dark, so she quickly headed right for one of the stairwells. If the electricity was trying to short then the last thing she wanted was for the power to officially go out, right as she was riding in the elevator.

The lights flickered over her head about four more times as she made her way down the hall, but it never did actually go out. The flickering was still more then enough to scare the wits out of Chiaki. "Ugh, why did I ever agree to this?" She asked herself entering the stairwell. It was already pretty dark in here so she was glad the power didn't go out yet.

Chiaki kind of peeked around the corner looking down the stairs like someone would be down at the bottom waiting to jump her. Okay now she was being really paranoid and she knew it. Nibbling her lip, the girl, placed a hand on the wall for balance, (no handrails? What kind of hospital was this!) and crept down the dark stairs.

They were very steep steps, and it wasn't until she noticed that, that Chiaki also realized she had been shaking this whole time. Lovely. But, icing on her disastrous cake would obviously be… the lights went out. No warning flicker this time, just pitch black followed by a loud crash. Oh wait… the crash was her falling down the last few steps.

Chiaki's foot slipped from it's designated step when the darkness hit, and she didn't fall forwards, but backwards of course, at the prefect angle for her head to crack against one of the heavy stone steps. "Ahh!" she yelled, eyes widening and pupils shrinking in shock when they should have dilated in the blackness. All her motor skills failed her instantly. She had no idea if she was up, down, left, right. Was she still falling had she stopped?

The last thing she would be able to recall from this insident later, was the sound of the door at the bottom opening. She saw the light from the basement (of course the basement lights wouldn't go out) fill the area, and heard a few footsteps.

"Nnn, H-Hito…shura?" Chiaki's world seemed to sway a bit before, she passed out in the exact same manner that Isamu had. Though she did not know that, and neither did Hitoshura.

"Oh dear…" Ms. Takao mumbled at the sight of Chiaki half sprawled out on the bottom step the way she was. The teacher left the stair well door open for light, and walked up to the girl. "Pity that you had to get hurt- I always did like you Hayasaka." Ms. Takao worked the teen over to at least get her propped against the wall, before she simply left in order to meet another of her students up on the roof.

* * *

><p>Thinking logically, Hitoshura decided to stop in the lobby and grab Chiaki. She'd want to know that he found Ms. Takao, and probably even want to hear what she had to tell him. Maybe they'd even be able to find Isamu and take him up there as well. Hitoshura did the over dramatic leap-off-the-elevator thing again, before relaxing a bit as he walked into the lobby. The, uh, empty, lobby.<p>

"Chiaki?" Hitoshura called out to receive a reply of silence. "Chiaki?" he tried again in a different direction. Nothing.

Alright now was the point where Hitoshura hit official worry. He literally ran around the whole first floor calling the girl's name, but it always came up short with zero response. Once he found himself back in front of the elevator he tapped his foot- his way of thinking at the moment.

"Fuck…" he murmured. He usually wasn't this bad with his language, but he thought that today an acceptation could be made due to circumstances. And on that note he cursed again a little louder.

There really was no way around it. Right now he'd need to just straight to the roof. Ms. Takao knew something about all of this, and he would find out what she and that bastard Hikawa had done to Chiaki and, God forbid, Isamu. Hitoshura bordered the elevator, really tempted to hit the button for floor two, but hit the one for roof instead. Isamu would be fine. He could handle himself, and Chiaki had probably just gone to look for him in all logical thoughts. She didn't trust Isamu to spell his own name right half the time, so she probably got restless and decided to hunt him down.

After what felt like an hour, the elevator brought Hitoshura to his all important destination. He stepped off in a normal manor this time, in cause Ms. Takao was watching. No reason for her to think he'd completely lost his mind. He would have been fine though, because the young woman had her back to him, staring through the fence to look down at the cityscape below them.

Hitoshura took maybe six whole steps closer to her when the woman started talking. "Hello, Hitoshura… I am glad that I made it in time, back there at the basement… I wouldn't want you to fall prey to a demon."

"So it was a demon…"

Ms. Takao turned finally to face him, nodding and smiling, but it was a sad lonely smile. "Mmhm… did you hear what Hikawa said? The world is about to be engulfed by chaos. It's called the Conception… the rebirth of the world; an event which no human has ever witnessed."

Conception? Rebirth? This was all insane! None of this made sense coming out of Ms. Takao, let alone someone that fit the profile of a cult member. "Ms. Takao, what are you talking about? This is crazy you realize that? Where are Isamu and Chiaki? What did you do to t-"

"Quiet!" Hitoshura immediately bit his tongue. This woman was still his teacher. He was supposed to respect that after all… "Just stop for a moment and listen to me! This is important and you have got to hear it before it becomes too late." She turned away again to look out at the sky, as though watching, waiting for something. "In a little bit… Everyone outside of this hospital will perish."

Hitoshura stopped biting his tongue. "What!"

"Even if we let this old world continue to exist," she continued flawlessly, ignoring the other as though he'd never spoken, "it would eventually lose all of it's power. The world must first die, for it to be born again… And I alone will carry the burden of its sin."

'Burden of its sin?' What! What was this? She couldn't be serious right now could she?

"You came here, led by fate. And it is your fate that you will live through the Conception." She shot the other a sympathetic little smile. "It may actually be more painful than death… But I believe in you."

"Wha- You're insane…" Hitoshura had lost all resolve. He was shaking like a leaf in the wind, rapidly stepping away from his teacher.

Ms. Takao closed her eyes and smiled. "I know you won't want to do this, but, Hitoshura…" she turned completely to face him. "Please find me. No matter how the world changes, I will be your strength. As the Maiden, I'll take part in the creation of the new world… I'm sure that I'll be able to provide you with guidance… I know it is difficult for you to understand, but we are out of time."

Hitoshura looked ready to scream. His eyes were wide and confused, totally different from their normal relaxed composed state. He was panicking. "What! What the fuck! Fuckfuckfuck. I don't-"

"Hitoshura!" Ms. Takao could understand him freaking out, but there would be time for that later! Now she needed him to listen to her. "If you can find me on your own, I promise that I'll tell you everything." She grabbed the boy's shoulder so that he would look at her. Surprisingly enough he didn't shake her off; apparently he was that distraught. "The answer to all your questions, and what my true feelings are… Find me Hitoshura! No matter what!" There was slight panic in her voice as well once she felt the ground beneath her start to shake.

That was when Hitoshura started to get his senses back. The ground below them shook violently, and he shrugged off Ms. Takao rudely, backing away in horror. He fell backwards due to the shaking, landing flat on his ass, and just staring up at the sty in shock. Black lighting streaked out from one center point, striking building after building until the whole city went completely black expect for the colored sky above them. The ground started bending, moving, shaking faster, and Hitoshura was screaming now. It was way out of character and probably considered unmanly, but what the hell else was he expected to do. He was terrified and powerless to do anything.

From the center point of where the lightening came out of, a blinding flash of light was emitted. Hitoshura's whole world became white and everything stopped. All sound, every little smell, the feel of the earth was gone, and he could not see anything but white anywhere either.

"…You who is about to enter my world, show me your heart…"

Hitoshura had absolutely no idea where the voice was from or who in the hell it belonged to. His only response to it was a choked squeak/sob. Wait… was he crying?

"You have nothing in your heart. Not even a hint of Reason. For the one who will shape this world, this cannot be. Go! And discover yourself…"

Suddenly something came into his view. The face of a small blond boy. He cocked his head at Hitoshura a bit. "Please!" Hitoshura begged. "Help me!" He didn't really know what he was begging for, but he wanted this nightmare over.

Instead, his nightmare got ten times worse, when he saw that little boy smile... It was the same creepy smile as the last time he'd seen him.

His companion from earlier came up next to him as they both leaded over Hitoshura (he must have been laying down… He couldn't really even tell, how sad was that?) "It is my honor to tell you that my little master has shown an interest in you." The old woman laughed softly. "Poor human, he wants to give you a special gift. It is vital that you receive this gift."

The little boy smiled that creepy smile again and held something right above Hitoshura's face. It was some kind of worm, with sharp, pointy teeth. Hitoshura shook his head. "No!" He cried, he could feel the tears on his cheeks now, yet had no control on whether or not they were falling. "No, please stop I don't understand-"

But the boy didn't care. "This will make you into a demon." the woman said, as her little master dropped the worm almost right into Hitoshura's eye. And that was also about the exact moment the teenager's sense of feeling decided to kick back to life.

"Ahhhhhhhhggggg!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, as the worm ate through his eye! It was pure agony. He felt shockwaves through out his whole body every time the parasite bit into a part of him. Hitoshura was pretty sure he never stopped screaming, or crying through out the whole incident. Ms. Takao was right, this had to be more painful then death could ever be… He didn't even know how to begin describing the kind of pain it was.

Finally, he must have stopped screaming because suddenly a beeping noise filled his ears. It sounded like a heart rate monitor. _Beep. Beepbeep. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep. BeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeep-   
><em>

Hitoshura lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>"Magatama, the essence of demonic power… You have now joined the ranks of demons." The old woman said from somewhere above. "My little master is always watching you, so don't bore him…" Her voiced faded.<p>

Hitoshura swallowed with extreme difficultly. He sat in the center of a hospital bed, knees tight to his chest, and arms over them. His eyes listlessly looked over the markings now etched into his skin. Heavy black lines, outlined in a fine glowing green. His sweatshirt had been lost somewhere and he shuddered lightly in the coolness of the hospital room, but he couldn't exactly put something else on- not with the spike jutting from his neck. There was a mirror across from him that reflected his image perfectly, and Hitoshura finally forced himself to look at it. His eyes flashed gold.

He really was… a demon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Uuuuum? So I saw a comment on here while I was checking out some other stuff, and I realized that I never posted the sixth chapter of this? I'm an awful person ;; Sorry to everyone following this story on here, your patients is very appreciated. **

Hitoshura had never been one who cried. The last time he had cried for any emotional reason was the day his grandmother died. At the time, Hitoshura was fourteen, probably too old to bawl the way that he had, but he'd been super close to her. He promised himself that it would be the last time he would sob like that. Even when he shattered his wrist about two years ago in soccer Hitoshura held back from crying at all despite how bad it had hurt. Guys weren't supposed to cry after all, so he'd buried the last of his childish, boyhood tears when the closest person of his childhood has died.

Which is why it was weird that he now sat on the hospital bed, exerting real effort in order to hold back his tears. He could still feel sticky spots on his cheeks where tears had fallen during his…. change. Now he was trying not to think about this too much, not to cry anymore, but that was all proving to be more difficult than he'd imagined. Everyone was gone? As far as he could tell, everything else Ms. Takao had said had come true, so was it possible that everybody outside of the hospital was actually dead as she predicted... His mother? His father? What about his little sister? The girl annoyed him to death most days, but that didn't mean Hitoshura wanted her dead. There was no way that she….

The boy sniffled again. He couldn't keep this up. Sitting here, thinking about this sort of thing was only causing him to feel more confused and depressed. Hitoshura worried that he might go insane if he didn't figure at least something out about all of this, so it was high time he stood up and explored the hospital. If everyone in the hospital was still alive- like Takao had told him- there was a good chance that Chiaki, Isamu, and Ms. Takao were somewhere around here still. God he hoped so…

Hitoshura allowed himself to rise up on slightly trembling legs. Sighing deeply he viewed his full frame in a near by mirror. From head to toe he was covered in those deep, black lines. They ran in many different widths, shapes and patterns, but all were trimmed in smaller greenish-bluish highlighting lines. His grey eyes seemed to have a hint of gold within them if caught in just the right shine of light, and, yes, there was indeed a spike sticking out of his neck. It was right at the juncture were his spine would connect with the very base of his neck. The thing was dark black in color, and looked really sharp. A part of Hitoshura wanted to touch it in order to test that theory, but the other half feared that if he touched it all this would seem so much more real. On a whim and due to overwhelming curiosity, he finally reached back to touch the thing gently and he could actually feel the pads of his fingers skim across it… Well that was a sobering feeling. It really was a part of his body now.

In an attempt to distract himself from that thought, Hitoshura glanced around the room for any hint as to were he was now. He got one… He didn't like it, but, yeah, yeah, he knew where he was.

It was the bloodstained room from the basement. The third one he'd entered with all the creepy looking tools and a few disheveled beds. Well… now he was pretty sure he understood the point of the room. His guess was that he was not the first person to go through a transition like this.

Hitoshura hightailed it out of there, ready to get some fucking answers, because he needed them. Stepping out of the room, everything looked the same so far. The only abnormality was a man silhouetted in light blue, uh, floating near by.

"What're you staring at me for?" The thing asked Hitoshura, flipping some hair off his shoulder. "Am I that peculiar? Have you been living all your demon life in a cave?"

The boy opened his mouth, only to close it. It was probably better to ask questions from a more reliable source- if he could find one. For now Hitoshura would pretend he understood this guy and walk on. Blissful ignorance~

Admittedly though… he really didn't have any idea where to go with himself. He wanted to explore rather then just sit on his ass and cry, but where he would explore was a question that worried him immensely. The best bet right now, he figured, was to check out the basement a bit more. Passing by the second room, he heard that noise again. Normally it would have been like white noise, ignored by a saner person who would simply pass by, yet now that he knew what was in there it was impossible to ignore. Hikawa… If that bastard was still in there…

Hitoshura didn't hesitate another moment, taking long strides straight into that room. Inside was not what he was expecting at all. It seemed that the room was now bigger somehow, not to mention all the monitors had vanished as though never there. The only similarity was the cylinder, covered in that illegible script, resting in the center of the room.

Hikawa was no where in sight and instead Hitoshura was closed in with another man. He turned to Hitoshura, tense as his long brown hair fell over a shoulder delicately. "Wait a minute…" he seemed to uncoil slightly eyes drawing across the boy. In his hands was a familiar grey fedora that seemed to serve more as a stress reliever then a hat. "Aren't you the kid I met in the park?"

That's when it hit him. "Hijiri!" Hitoshura gasped a bit too excitedly, especially since they'd only met once. His face grew hot with embarrassment from his over animatedness and excitement, but he didn't care- there was someone else alive…

"Yeah…" Hijiri looked worried. "What… what happened to you?"

Looking down, not for a reminder as he could never forget this nightmare, but rather because he didn't want to look at Hijiri while admitting, "I don't really know…"

The other was silent for a bit, too long for Hitoshura's comfort really. "I see. Well at least you still think like a human." Hijiri gave a sympathetic smile. It turned back to a frown quickly though. "So what the hell is going on? There was that bright, blinding light, and next thing I knew, I was in this room." He scratched his head, jostling the hat to his other hand. "I took a quick look around, and it looks like I'm in a hospital."

Hitoshura nodded. "Yeah, Shinjuku Medical Center."

"Hmm," he said. "As much as I want to know what is going on out there, I don't think it's safe for me to walk around. By the way, have you come across any yet?" Hijiri tightened his grip on the hat slightly.

Cocking his head, Hitoshura asked, "Any what?"

Hijiri sighed. "Well… they're definitely not human. My guess is that they're… demons."

Hitoshura flinched. _"This will make you into a demon."_ That's what the old woman had told him. On top of that, the man out in the hallway had easily called him a demon without a second thought. There really were other demons then? Not just him?

"My strange experience…" Hijiri looked off to the ground deep in thought. "Your new look, and these weird creatures… I certainly don't think the police can help us here." He ran his thumb over his lip, stroking it quizzically. "Damn…. It's hard to believe, but…. But since this is the Medical Center, could this have been the Conception…"

Again, Hitoshura flinched visibly; he was surprised Hijiri didn't say anything in response to the dramatic display. Taking a shallow breath, the teenager bit his tongue and kept his face solid. The Conception had indeed occurred, but… should he tell this strange man? He didn't really know him or his intentions, so maybe it wasn't wise to share the details or specifically tell him that Hikawa and Yuko were involved.

"What has happened to the world?" Hijiri mumbled more to himself then Hitoshura. "…Are there other humans out there…?

Placing a hand on the door behind him, Hitoshura told him, "I'm going to go take a look around here then."

"Mm… alright… Good luck…"

Most people would logically go to the elevator next. Creepy basement where all of this nonsense started, or upstairs were there had been friends not too long ago- yeah, Hitoshura decided to use the elevator. However, the closer he got, the more something felt…. Off. His steps slowed, until he finally just stopped right in front of the doors. What was this…? It was… intimidating, almost frightening. A heavy overwhelming feeling of something that Hitoshura wasn't sure he wanted to be met face to face with. But being stuck down here in the basement wasn't exactly a good time either, so he hit the button anyways.

Bad move.

The door opened and Hitoshura stepped inside, yet just as he went to press the up button, there was a flash of light. It was exactly the same as when he had been on the roof with Yuko- bright, blinding, everything went white and suddenly there was nothing for a moment or two. When the crushing silence came to an end and a rushing sound filled Hitoshura's ears, he blinked his eyes a few times so that a world blurrily came into focus. Problem was it definitely was not the interior of an elevator…

"What the-" Hitoshura jumped back a bit, tensing, waiting to see what would happen. A demon would swoop down at his face, some creature would come up from the floor and try to eat him, or some other equally terrible scenario was all that he could picture happening next.

In reality, nothing happened.

Swallowing, he relaxed and took in his surroundings a bit better. Walls made of a rich, red color and circling to create an almost completely round hallway. The floor was either moving or... no it was more like… red flowing water. Nervously, Hitoshura stepped off his little patch of regular colored floor, and placed his foot onto-into the red part. He was surprised to actually feel it sink into something wet and smooth, like water but somehow not.

"What is this…?" Hitoshura curiously bent down to swish his hand through it. It even felt weird… like… almost… jelly and squishy, yet somehow still retaining it's liquid form. This whole place was just getting weirder and weirder every moment.

Sighing, he straightened back up, gave a shrug, and started to actually walk through the almost knee deep water. It wasn't moving fast really, or really moving much at all. It seemed like the water itself that he walked through wasn't moving, but the somehow the red color seemed to be. No, it didn't make any sense but that really was the only way he could think to describe it.

He didn't know where it was he was even going, but he just followed the path until the hall forked in two separate directions. Hitoshura was debating which to take, not that he knew what he'd find either way, but something made the decision for him. Suddenly, another smaller, less intense flash of light came from the left path.

"Come…" rang out an unfamiliar, feminine voice. "Show me… the strength…"

Hitoshura turning the corner just in time to see a young woman in black and a man in a wheel chair blocking the path.

"Of a demon…" The woman finished, before the two simply faded away.

The boy stood still for a moment. "Hello?" he questioned, then once more a bit louder. "Hello!?"

Nothing.

Well that still seemed like enough of an incentive for him. There had been someone this direction, and if he kept going this way… well he might just get a few answers. He hoped.

Everything went smoothly then… for approximately ten steps. Out of no where, something suddenly came flying at Hitoshura. "Holy-"he dove to the right, rolled through the water with a good splash, and leaned up on his elbows rapidly to see two purple… clouds? One of the… clouds- still not sure what to call them really- turned and Hitoshura was shocked to discover it had a face. So cloud with a face… yeah… this was all totally making more sense now…

"I Want eAT…" The one facing him said (oh lord they could talk!)

Just as Hitoshura was scrabbling to his feet the other cloud, mist, thing turned as well. "mE Eat!" It roared, charging at Hitoshura, and bashing right into him.

He hissed and took a step back, almost falling once more. "What the hell?" What were these things!? And why were they attacking him!? Unless… _"By the way, have you come across any yet?" "Well… they're definitely not human. My guess is that they're… demons."_ Hitoshura stood up a bit more. These… these were demons just like him weren't they…? Except these ones were not humans that had been turned into demons. What ever you called the clouds, they were full fledged pure breed demons unlike Hitoshura who still retained so much humanity. So were they attacking him because of what he was?

"MaGatSUHi!" One of the clouds growled. What could that possibly mean? Hitoshura didn't have time to think about it, being hit full force in the chest by said demon only a moment later. After a groan, he stood up straighter, and clenched his fists before him. It wasn't as though he had a ton of experience fighting, but Hitoshura would much rather give it a shot then simply lie down and let these things keep assaulting him. He stood at the ready, waiting for one of the things to charge at him, mentally strategizing about where to land a punch or a carefully timed kick. He crouched low, looking a bit silly, and kept his expression solid.

Hang on… after a moment, Hitoshura realized the clouds weren't attacking him again. They just floated there… staring him down and looking generally menacing. Even if they weren't attacking him though Hitoshura didn't feel as though the threat had passed. Carefully, as though too much motion too fast would set off a landmine buried deep below, he slid his foot across the floor to be slightly closer to the demons. The movement invoked not even the slightest reaction from the mists, so Hitoshura shuffled the other foot. Dead stares.

That was the point where he lowered his guard for a second, just standing before the things defenseless. And even then no response came in return. It was like the demons were waiting for something; what though? Opening his mouth, Hitoshura almost tried speaking to them before the one growled out in that garbled voice again, "MaGatSUHi! Me wANT! mE eAt!"

Before either could dash for him, Hitoshura ran the few extra steps and threw a fist right in the face of the one that had spoken. It made nice, sharp contact, from which the teen immediately leapt backwards. Hissing angrily, Hitoshura shook out his hand- God, he hadn't expected the thing to be that hard! It was a freaking cloud of purple mist, who would have thought it to be so solid.

The hit cloud roared, and flew dead center at Hitoshura once more, hurriedly followed by the next one. He grit his teeth with both hit, but held his ground- not running or falling down. It was a bit of a long shot… but he watched the demons pause once more, just hovering about, Hitoshura wondered if they were actually waiting for him to attack them back. Now wasn't the time for him to have a nice little Q&A with some demons though, so he took his shot when he saw fit, coiling a fist back, then launching it forward at the same demon as before. He made contact (ready for the solidity of it this time around) and it gave a pained noise, before disappearing. It left behind only these few specs of red that danced around as Hitoshura was retreating back, and then they flew after him as well. He initially flinched, waving his arm about as one of the blobs touched that part of his body. The innocent looking blobs simply disintegrated into his skin in the next moment, leaving Hitoshura thoroughly confused and slightly concerned. What if it was some sort of poison!? A last ditch effort for the demon to kill him, even after he'd seeming killed the thing in the first place!? Would it weaken him so the other could kill him and get this, Magatsuhi stuff? So many questions already and the list only seemed to be getting longer rather than shorter with every action Hitoshura took…

With another one of those terribly ill sounding roars, the remaining cloud finally flew at the confused boy. He winced a little feeling that hit a bit harder, but simply returned it with a punch. They repeated this awkward pattern and Hitoshura was able to quickly rid himself of the floating nuisance with just one last strike. Again, it disappeared only leaving that red stuff which flew to the boy. Instead of freaking out this time, he examined it with a calm eye, watching the little balls as they buzzed over and then into him. He actually gave a bit of a sigh as they entered him- it felt… nice. Empowering really. Like now he could easily go for another round with more demons, especially since he had a vague sense of what he was doing.

Hitoshura looked down at his hand, unclenching the fist he'd be making to stare at the back of it. He actually took a moment to… admire the lines that were painted across his fingers. Flexing his fingers about he watched the way the lines moved and got this kind of dreamy smirk on his face. Amazing… he'd just taken out two demons with that hand. Cool. Just as he was about to let off a little laugh, he turned his hand palm side up and froze. Something in his brain snapped at the simple sight; it was unchanged. Nothing had been added to the inside of his hand during his transformation into a demon. All the little lines and creases that were there now had been there before the Conception as well.

Hitoshura shook his head a bit coming back to what really mattered right here and now; moving forward. He swallowed back the thick, bitter lump in his throat that made his gut churn with worry, but now wasn't the time to stress about what that little feeling just now had been about. His feet took life once more and he was on his way down the hall.

The wet, swampy path took him into another hallway where he heard that same voice call "…This way…" Hitoshura followed the path the voice was calling from, only having to go up against one other demon as he practically ran to the voice. This time his scuffle with the cloud monster went much faster, once again following that odd pattern of actually taking turns to attack one another. He wasn't sure why they kept after him in that manner, but the demons always gave him that window of opportunity to attack. Almost like it was some sort of requirement to fighting.

Hitoshura finally came to a door at the end of his third hallway. Opening it hastily, he dashed in surprised to find it different from the other areas he'd been in. The floor was completely void of water, and this was not simply another hallway, but rather a circular shaped room with a platform, almost pedestal, dead center of the room. The boy stopped, staring at the old man and the woman he'd just briefly glanced out in the hallway, each now standing on the pedestal before him. The man in the chair had long silver, blond hair, that hung loosely past his shoulders, and the woman at his side was dressed head to toe in funeral attire. Where had Hitoshura seen these two before…?

"…So, you made it…" The woman said, her hands folded before her giving her a mild mannered appearance despite the overwhelming aura she emitted. "Your strength is…outstanding." Hitoshura could have sworn he saw her lips draw up into a smile.

He stepped forward, "Who are you exactly? Tell me where I am."

If there ever really had been a smile it fell immediately when the boy began to make demands like that. "We shall meet again soon," she spat almost bitterly. The old man beside her finally made his presence known, waving his cane softly through the air. This motion created another one of those obnoxiously bright light flares, disorienting Hitoshura until the spots before his vision faded and he… he was back in front of the elevator? The boy took a step back and swiveled his head in all directions. Yep… just like that he was back in the basement of the hospital, standing in front of the elevator as though nothing had happened.

Hitoshura briefly rubbed a hand across his face, trying to focus himself once more. Just… all he could do right now was keep moving… yeah. He got on the elevator again and this time it stayed the elevator. And as the box started moving to the first floor, he was _so_ happy to see the piece of shit rickety old elevator was still a rickety old piece of shit… 'cause you know if something was going to stay the same in the world, Hitoshura had wanted it to be the elevator.

Misplaced hostility to the poor elevator aside, what the boy saw when he got to the first floor surprised him. Everything was dark, and not so much a pitch black dark, rather a horror reminiscent heavy blue color. The whole lobby was blanketed in the deep color, and Hitoshura could see there was zero hope of any lights above returning back to working order. He swallowed hard when he noticed that main entrance was completely blocked off by rubble and was impassable.

That was okay though; Hitoshura still wanted to look for his friends anyways. Once he found the other two- hopefully- they would all be able to make their way out of here together. With their combined efforts there had to be a way around that minor problem.

Before going to the roof earlier, Hitoshura could remember running around the first floor hunting for Chiaki and coming up short. He figured that enough time had passed by now to give the first floor another go. Calling out for Chiaki every few steps, Hitoshura made his way around as much of the floor as was assessable in its current state. He even yelled for Isamu and Takao on occasion, yet none of the three names earned a response. Well that's not true; some times his shouts brought some hidden demon out for a fight. Hitoshura held his ground against all of them, but by the time he was done searching the first floor his body was getting rather sluggish. Wincing he slumped over, hands on his knees, taking a few good gulps of air, and totally feeling the ache in his ribs each time.

Well this was a hospital after all, so when Hitoshura trudged up the stairs to the second floor, he slithered past any more demons looking for a fight until he found some medicine. It wasn't like he had a degree in medical sciences or anything even remotely close, so honestly he was going on blind faith that this was in fact just a simple pain killer. He hoped that the stuff wasn't going to knock him out and leave him dazed on the floor just waiting to get jumped by more of those demon bastards.

Hitoshura took a couple of the blue colored pills he found and gave it a little while to kick in, taking a seat on an empty bed. The stuff- what ever it had been- took effect surprisingly fast and he rolled out his shoulders, the pain in his chest melting away in an almost heavenly feel. Okay, he was going to take some of that shit with him, wow. It was only like two minutes that he actually sat in the room, before he was hopping up feeling rejuvenated and invigorated, ready to find another demon to scrap with.

Hitoshura repeated the same process of hunting people down on the second floor the way he had just been doing on the first. Nothing once again. He even checked a few of the rooms, but they were all empty or filled with demons that Hitoshura had had the common sense to avoid. Granted he was becoming skilled in fighting against two or three, but to take on five at once would have just been stupid, so, yes, Hitoshura just shut the door to that room behind him and ran.

For good measure, he went all the way up to the roof to see what he could scope out. Well the good news was that there were no demons he could see up there. The bad news, however, was that there were also no people around, and this decision had also given Hitoshura his first terrified look of the outside world. The moment he had opened the door, his breath caught solid in his throat, and his movements tapered off to stillness. The world outside was… nothing like that he had suspected. Sure, Hitoshura was anticipating that there would have been carnage and weird repercussions because of the Conception but this… this didn't even make sense.

No longer could Hitoshura look off the edge of the roof and gaze across the Tokyo cityscape. It… everything had been turned damn near inside out. As though the entire city, every square mile, was turned and shaped around to create a sphere. Tokyo had become a small globe, and Hitoshura was now living in the inside of it.

Hitoshura suddenly felt a bit sick to his stomach. He leaned heavily back against the door, just staring up at the stationary source of light shining in the sky. Whatever it was it bore the appearance of a moon shining five times brighter than the one he was used to seeing. Its light was overwhelming, and put a wobble in his knees. A large, sour lump clogged his throat, and Hitoshura had to use genuine force trying to swallow it back down. His eyes flit down to look at the city, or rather what was left of it, which lay broken over the roof's edge. A few bits of road and highway, an occasional building that seemed vaguely familiar to him, or maybe something that looked entirely new and different… that was all Hitoshura could see. No movements or hints that other life was out there running about; just silent, clouded remnants of the broken past world.

The sinking feeling finally over took him, and his back slipped down the door completely. His spike, horn thing made a _shiiink_ noise as it was forcibly scraped across metal. Hitoshura suddenly realized he was not breathing, so with wide eyes he gasped for the precious oxygen he still needed (at least one thing hadn't changed in this world.) He'd only had a panic attack once before in his life- it was right before an important soccer game- but that feeling hadn't been nearly as overwhelming as this one. Everything felt off balance and wrong, like he was falling down and couldn't stop himself from plummeting into the ground at top speed. His eyes couldn't focus, his breath wouldn't catch up with him, and Hitoshura made some odd choked noises that scared him as much as anything else.

It was a good five to ten minutes before Hitoshura had calmed himself down. Head between his knees he was taking full, deep inhales, savoring them slowly to get his nerves back to normal. He noticed his hands were shaking a bit, but ignored them when he finally rolled his head back to rest against the door. Hitoshura closed his eyes, not wanting to see the new world again yet. Alright so… not only were there demons in the new world, not only were there almost zero other humans here, but every familiar place he had even been to was gone or very nearly gone…

Hitoshura took his own sweet-damn time after that, just causally sitting around before finally working himself back upright on both legs a good while later. He really couldn't get deterred by this; he _needed_ to move forward, find someone else. There had to be someone else still to go through this with him. Even if it wasn't Ms. Takao or Hikawa to give him all the answers he wanted, if Hitoshura could find Isamu or Chiaki he knew that he'd feel much more secure about going through this. At least he wouldn't have to be the only one asking so many questions.

_One problem at a time Hitoshura… one problem at a time…_ he told himself with an audible sigh. The boy traipsed back down the dim staircase, off to hunt around the second floor a bit more. Isamu had talked about going to the annex from that floor right? Hitoshura seemed to recall there being an exit from that part of the building as well. Maybe that area had been spared from whatever tremor blocked him from using the front exit, and there would be hope for him leaving the hospital. …Not that he would know where to take himself outside but at this point he had just as much hope finding someone out there as he did in here.

Despite the horror of what the outside world truly looked like now, the annex walkway, with its glass walls and ceilings, was almost bright and uplifting in comparison to the closed off wings indoors. The light that was in the sky- whatever it really was- did a good of brightening up everything it touched. In comparison to everything else this hallway was actually calming to Hitoshura.

Something in this new plan of his had completely slipped his mind however until the moment he reached the door. Shit, the annex and the basement both needed key cards. Hitoshura had the card for the basement, but Isamu- wherever he'd gotten to by now- had the one currently necessary for this door. He glared at the stupid lock mechanism for a minute, as though the intimidating stare might get it working.

Hitoshura pulled on the latch… nope. He tugged harder… nope. Next with both hands… still nothing. Bracing his foot on the solid panel next to the door and planting the other firmly behind him, Hitoshura tugged with all his might. New demon strength could help him get in right? "Hhnnngg!" he groaned out feeling his arms tighten up in slight pain at the feeling of yanking so hard.

With a growl he gave up trying to open the damn thing, and backed away angrily. While trying to work through a new plan in his mind- there had to be a way out of this place-Hitoshura suddenly felt a warm sharp rush of air by his ear. Rather more, _into_ his ear, followed quickly by a soft buzzing noise. He of course did what any rational person would do and calmly freaked the fuck out, swatting hilariously at the empty space by his prickled ear. He stared wide eyed at the empty space beside him when-

"Over heeeere~"

Hitoshura did a complete one-eighty, only to turn to more empty space. _What, but…_

"Nuh-uh, over here!" The feminine voice purred from his right.

Again, he turned quickly, but this time he actually was rewarded with the sight of a very small girl. She looked exactly like those little fairies that are popular in children's stories. Cropped, fire red hair that curled carefully behind her pointed ears. Little fluttery wings flitted behind her back at top speed. And she was only about a head length tall… all the features that pointed to a fairy.

"Uh…" Hitoshura managed, staring at her blankly. Okay so demons made sense in this apocalyptic, desolate world, but fairies? What?

The fairy giggled, holding both hands behind her back. "You're funny! Not like most demons around here." Pouting her lips out, she suddenly took off and circled around Hitoshura. He could feel her eyes sweeping over him, analyzing every inch. "You almost look kinda human… hmm… but you're defiantly demon…" Once around the front again, the fairy flew right up to Hitoshura's face, mere inches away from his nose. "No way! Did you get turned!? Wow how cool!"

Hitoshura flinched more at the close contact then the words to be honest. "Cool?"

"Yeah!" she just moved in closer. "Normally when one of you humans gets turned, well, let's just say you don't come out this side looking so damn good!"

The way she said it frightened Hitoshura in more ways then one… "Who are you exactly?"

Clicking her tongue slightly, the girl flew back and did a little summersault in the air. "Me? You can call me Pixie!" Fitting… "What you're name cutie?"

Geez, he could practically hear the figurative heart attached to the end of her statement. "Hitoshura."

Pixie clapped her hands together. "Hitoshura! What a cool name, makes you sound tough!" Next the thing put a finger to her lips. "Kinda long though don't ya think? Hmmm, I'm gonna call you Shura, 'kay?"

….Shura… Alright. He could live with that- wait, why was he even talking to her like this still? He had better things to do with his time. He had to find that key card.

"So Shura," she spun around his head a few times like some hyper active child making his eyes dart every which way. "Can I ask you something?"

He nodded, eyes getting distracted momentarily by a very tall building he'd never seen before in the distance. It made him shudder for some reason, but then again so did pretty much everything in this world. Maybe that's why the introduction of a creature like Pixie here was so weird for Hitoshura.

Pixie finally landed before his line of sight again. "You're trying to get out of this hospital right? But what you might not know is that the only way out is through this door here." She made a wild dramatic gesture to the door Hitoshura had been fighting with mere moments ago. "Problem is you need a key for it right? Weeeeeeeell, I just might happen to know where it is~"

Hitoshura tried not to get himself too excited, there was lots of teasing in her voice, but at this point this was the best lead he had. "Okay …but?" There had to be a catch, right? No way would this work as simply as Pixie telling him where the ID card was and that was that. She had to want something in return for the info.

"Buuuuut, you're not the only one that wants it. I want the card to get out of the hospital as well!" Pixie flew back and forth, like she was pacing in the air. "Problem is, I'm not strong enough to get it on your own, and I'm guessing since you're new to this whole demon thing, you won't be able to get it either. So," she pointed to him, "here's the fun part, I say we team up, work together to get the card, and then you can help me get out of the hospital and to Yoyogi Park!"

Yoyogi Park? Huh… apparently that had still made it into this world. Ironic since that was the place of riot just the night before and Hikawa's cult had been involved… "Team up…. With a demon? You want me to trust you?" Hitoshura asked the Pixie without hesitation.

She puffed out a cheek. "Humph, hey I'm not just some rude old demon! I wouldn't stab you in the back or anything like that. _I_ always honor my commitments!" Pixie scoffed and threw her head back as though flipping long hair that she didn't or no longer had. "So are you in or not? Despite my _adorable_ appearance I do know a thing or two about fighting other demons that even you probably don't understand. Without me, you're not gonna get anywhere, so…"

The look that she gave him was all large sparkly eyes, just pleading for him to agree. Well…. What did he really have to lose by agreeing? She didn't look all that tough so he had a good chance of beating her if she did turn on him- how much power could something so small really pack? Plus he could use a little help figuring out how this whole demon thing worked. "So all I have to do it take you to Yoyogi Park after all this is done?"

Pixie clapped her hands again, "Yep! Simple as that! So do we have a deal?"

Sighing, Hitoshura nodded. "Yeah… okay."

"Yay!" she giggled, twirling in circles and spinning through the air too fast for the boy to keep track of her. "Oh this is gonna be so much fun Shura! Just get ready. I have _so_ much to teach you!"


End file.
